


Total Fucking Darkness

by baeconandeggs, hyunchanee_exo



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action, Blowjobs, Demons, Dirty Talk, Fantasy, Fingering, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Slight Violence, Smut, Witches, slutshaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 17:54:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 55,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19114765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyunchanee_exo/pseuds/hyunchanee_exo
Summary: Chanyeol is a freak who tends to burn stuff and Baekhyun is a hot guy with a bewitching secret.





	Total Fucking Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** BAE1098  
>  **Disclaimer: baeconandeggs/the mods is/are not the author/s of this story. Authors will be credited and tagged after reveals.** The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.  
>   
> 
> **Author's Note:** Before anything else, I would just like to extend my apologies to the prompter for this fic. I am truly sorry for deviating from what you have in mind for this even though I did fully understand what you wanted and I cannot tell you if it deviated for the best or for the worst xD All I can assure you is that I worked hard to create this. Once again, I am truly sorry.
> 
> Next, I would like to extend my gratitude to everyone involved in this process. Thank you to L and MM for taking the time to edit this monstrosity of a fic and listen to me rant. Thank you so much to MR, MX, MT, J and A for giving me valuable feedback. Thank you to the mods of this fic fest for being patient with me xD And of course, thank you so much to all the readers who actively participate in this as well.
> 
> This fic has taken up much of my time for the past few months, and I absolutely love it to pieces even though I am sooooo late in turning this in. I have done my best to build up this world and make the characters feel as alive as possible. This is far from being perfect despite being betaed, and I apologize for any typos or grammatical errors that you might encounter along the way. I will edit it as soon as possible once the reveals come.
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoy it.

The wind is chilly when Chanyeol rolls the window down and thrusts a hand out. _It’s definitely going to rain_ , he predicts. According to his Aunt Soojung, this is the normal climate in the small developing town of Roselake. The skies are normally dark and gloomy, seemingly often at the brink of tears. 

Like a sixteen-year-old ridden by a bad case of teenage angst. 

“It’s been a long time,” his aunt speaks up from the driver’s seat as she glances to the side at the seventeen-year-old. “The last time I saw you was when you were fifteen, during the summer when we came to visit you at the city.” 

“Definitely been quite long time,” Chanyeol chuckles. 

“Even longer the last time you’ve been to Roselake,” Aunt Soojung smiles. “You were, what, eight years old?” 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol nods. “I wonder if things have changed.” 

“Oh no,” Aunt Soojung laughs. “Nothing really changed. Just a couple of new establishments and Wi-Fi doesn’t really suck anymore.” 

“I see,” the boy laughs. “I’m happy to know I won’t be that cut off from the world after all.” 

His move to Roselake was something that Chanyeol never really expected. Every time his family mentions their simple little hometown, it has always seemed so distant and a bit imaginary, like a fictional place in a children’s book. But then again, could anyone really expect the knock of Death on your door? They have been so happy, Chanyeol never really expected for his parents to leave him like this. If they had been alive, they will probably never even think about going back to Roselake. 

But this isn’t the time for a pity party. 

Chanyeol had already been to Aunt Soojung’s house before but it was a fuzzy memory. So, when his aunt drove down a path through the thick woods, he is slightly surprised. 

“Isn’t it hard for you?” 

Aunt Soojung perks an eyebrow up. 

“What’s hard?” 

“You know…” Chanyeol gestures to the woods surrounding the car. “Having to pass through these woods to get to your house…” 

“Not really,” Aunt Soojung laughs. “There is a shorter way by foot, I just took this one for the car.” 

“How about if Sehun and Nayoung have to go somewhere farther?” 

“I bought them a car, too.” 

“Oh,” Chanyeol nods. “I see… that’s convenient.” 

The car only stops when they finally reach a clearing, where he sees a big ancestral house that he could remember as Aunt Soojung’s house. It was evidently old, three-floored with a dark red paint job that really needs to be redone soon, a couple of translucent windows and a porch. At the side there is a garden that probably runs all the way to the back, dotted with flowers and other pretty shrubs. The whole property is surrounded by plain wooden fences. If you look past the fact that it’s such a huge, hideous old thing, it’s actually close to being those cute little cottages you’d see on television. 

“Welcome home, I guess?” Aunt Soojung says as she turns off the engine. 

“Thank you so much for doing this, Auntie,” Chanyeol sighs heavily. “You didn’t have to, but you did…” 

The boy flinches at the feel of a warm hand taking his. “Of course I have to do this. We’re family, okay? Your mother… she is a dear sister to me. I won’t leave you alone to deal with the horrors of this world.” 

Chanyeol bites his lip and nods, stopping the tears that are in danger of spilling out of his eyes again. He had wept enough times throughout the months, it’s time to pick himself back-up and get his life together. 

Upon getting out of the car and walking towards the house, Chanyeol and his aunt are greeted by his cousins, Sehun and Nayoung, both displaying cunning and mysterious smiles across their pretty faces as he walks up to them. 

“Welcome back, cousin,” Nayoung, the older twin, greets him as they both tackle him into a hug, causing the tall boy to grunt before letting out a little laugh. 

“Been a long time,” Sehun comments as they lean back and synchronically pat his shoulders. 

“Seems like I will be staying longer now,” Chanyeol smiles sadly. 

“Why so glum? That only means we will have more time to have fun together,” Nayoung grins. 

“We will be able to make up for the years that we weren’t together,” Sehun chimes in. 

“Now, now my darlings,” Aunt Soojung appears behind her children and puts her hands on their shoulders. “Don’t get Chanyeol into your mess, or I’ll have to hold the both of you accountable.” She kisses their temples as they simultaneously groan and roll their eyes. 

“Mom is never fun,” Nayoung sighs before she smiles once again at Chanyeol and extends her hand. “Come on, let’s get inside.” 

Taking her hand, Chanyeol follows the twins into the house. Upon entering, he is immediately greeted by sweet-scented candles and a song he recognizes echoing soothingly through the house from a record player. Upon looking around, he notices that the dark red-colored walls are mostly covered up by frames of Aunt Soojung with Sehun and Nayoung, along with older generation family portraits. There are other strange little trinkets on the walls, but Chanyeol does not get the chance to scrutinize them better because Sehun and Nayoung whisk him away. 

“Here is the living room, here is the kitchen, that’s the first floor bathroom,” they start to say, pointing around at portions of the house and Chanyeol does his best to remember. 

Up the stairs, they show him the bed rooms. 

“This is mine,” Nayoung says, touching a door. 

“This is mine,” Sehun does what his sister did to the next door. 

“And that’s yours,” they point towards the door just across. 

“Mom’s room is down the hallways next to the storage room,” Sehun points further down the hall. “There are bathrooms within the rooms.” 

“Check your room out,” Nayoung says, gently pushing Chanyeol towards his room. “When you’re done, we’re just downstairs. Join us for lunch.” 

The tall male’s eyes drift around, nodding as he steps further into the room. Glancing one last time at him, his cousins share a look before finally leaving him all to himself. 

They had given Chanyeol quite a fairly decent room. The walls are just like the living room, so he guesses probably every room has the same motif. There is a single window that faces the garden, covered with wine red curtains that he finds very aesthetically pleasing. The same shade of red is evident on his sheets, contrasting sharply from the white mattress and pillows. There is a wooden desk, a wardrobe, a drawer cabinet and two shelves up against the wall. It’s basically everything that he needed. 

Chanyeol sighs as he sits on the bed, bouncing a bit as his weight shifts towards the mattress. It’s a nice place, yet very different from what he has grown accustomed to. Nothing reminds him of the room he knows of at all. It’s like plunging into a whole new world. The transition from the sleek, modern interior of his old room into this old-fashioned, rundown style is a bit overwhelming. Yet of course, Chanyeol isn’t complaining at all. If anything, he is grateful that his aunt and cousin accepted his orphaned ass with open and willing arms. It’s just that it makes him really feel how everything has changed now. 

His life will never be the way it has been before. 

It’s all different now. 

Something starts burning, and when Chanyeol realizes that it’s the spot on the bed sheet right underneath his palm, he yelps and brings his hand up. As he shakes his hand trying to rid the smoke while breathing heavily, Chanyeol stares at the spot that he had burned. Good thing it wasn’t really big, just a patch of blackened fabric. 

_Goddammit, it’s not a good day to act like a freak,_ Chanyeol hisses at himself mentally. 

“How was your room?” Aunt Soojung asks cheerfully when Chanyeol enters the kitchen, sitting on a chair between the twins who are enjoying a plate of hamburger with fries at the side. 

“Splendid,” Chanyeol says with equal cheer, yet for the teenagers in the room, they could perfectly feel the awkwardness he exudes. 

They don’t say anything about it though. 

“Brilliant,” Aunt Soojung smiles, clapping her hands together as she twirls around, picking up a plate of the same food as the twins for Chanyeol from the counter then slips it across the table towards the tall boy. 

“Listen everyone, as much as I want to be here for our dearest Chanyeol because it is his first day with us, I cannot fulfill such responsibility because I need to be in an important meeting at the bank. Now I trust the both of you,” Aunt Soojung looks pointedly as her twins. “To keep yourselves out of trouble until I come back tomorrow.” 

“Don’t be so dramatic mom, we’ve never been in trouble,” Nayoung rolls her eyes before shooting a smirk towards Chanyeol’s direction. 

_That can’t be good._

“You know what I mean,” Aunt Soojung haughtily snaps back. “Don’t think I forgot about the time you brought home those _girls,_ and also when Sehun smoke cannabis and got so high he could only giggle through the next day!” 

Chanyeol gives Sehun a strange look. “You… You get giggly when you smoke weed?” 

Sehun rolls his eyes and scowls. “Shut up, cousin.” 

“So there’s that,” Aunt Soojung concludes. “I will go prepare and depart immediately.” 

“Yes, mom.” “Yes, Auntie.” 

“Great,” the woman smiles before she turns around, leaving the trio to eat their lunch in peace. 

Now of course, as a teenager himself and after hearing the wild tales that Aunt Soojung had told them, Chanyeol knew his cousins aren’t up to anything good that night while she is gone. 

And he’s right, because on his way down the hallway after taking a bath, Chanyeol overhears Sehun talking on the phone. He quickly slams his back against a wall down a turn in the hallway to eavesdrop. 

“Of course we’ll be there tonight, duh…” Sehun says. “Mom isn’t around, yeah. We can sneak out... Oh well _sorry_ , sorry that I actually have a mother who loves and cares for us... Hurt your feelings? Break up with me then... You can’t? Hmm, thought so... ‘Kay, I’ll see you later. I love you, bastard.” 

Chanyeol quickly rushes down the stairs, hoping Sehun does not find out that he has been listening in to his conversation on the phone. 

When he gets to his room, Chanyeol closes his door and leans against it, panting as he holds his clothes to his chest. 

So his cousins really weren’t up to any good while Aunt Soojung is away… 

  
  
  
  
  


“You think he is asleep now?” Nayoung whispers, rushing down the stairs towards her brother who is busy contacting people on his phone. 

“That or he’s probably jacking off to porn or something,” Sehun waves his hand off. “We have to go now, dammit. It’s already nine, we’ll be missing out on the fun if we stall.” 

“Okay, okay…” Nayoung says, carefully rushing down the stairs in her platform boots. She stops halfway and looks at a wall mirror when she notices something wrong with her mascara. 

“Oh my gosh, my mascara got smudged.” 

“Hurry up! Sheesh, Nayoung…” Sehun clicks his tongue. Nayoung rolls her eyes and finally walks down the stairs. Her brother opens the door quietly, letting her out first. Sehun blames her for taking too long at preparing, even though she has already decided her clothes like a week ago and Sehun also does the same routine as hers – with the skincare, make-up and all that. 

“Not so fast, cousins.” 

Sehun’s eyes widen when he sees Chanyeol up the stairs before he could get out of the door. He is wearing a plain white shirt that clings tightly on to his surprisingly good physique, arms decorated in chains, matched with light blue ripped denim jeans and nice combat boots. His hair is brushed up as well, showing off his forehead and making him look like a hottie rather than the anti-social cousin that they know of. 

“Sehun, what the fuck is taking you so-” Nayoung gasps when her eyes fall on Chanyeol. 

“Holy shit! Is that you, cousin?” 

“Bring me with you,” Chanyeol curtly says with his eyebrows furrowed, making him look more intimidating than usual. 

Sehun laughs nervously. “Oh no no, I don’t think we can do that-“ 

“Bring me along or I’ll snitch on you.” 

The other boy proceeds to argue, but Nayoung presses a hand on his chest and smirks. 

“I think it’s a great idea, Sehun. Let’s bring Chanyeol along. It would be a nice welcoming if he got himself laid, right?” 

Chanyeol smiles smugly. 

“Your sister is right.” 

Sehun rolls his eyes. 

“The two of you are older than me but are more troublesome,” he groans. “But whatever, come on.” 

Exchanging excited grins, Chanyeol and Nayoung follow after Sehun, who runs towards a red convertible parked up in front of the house. They quickly hop in and ride off into the night. 

Chanyeol can’t believe he is actually going to do this. The normal him would never think about sneaking out to party at some shady area with people he doesn’t even know, but it’s time he needs to do something about himself. He has always been reserved and hesitant to do anything with lots of people which heightened up even more when he lost his family, but he figures he needs to change. He needs to mingle and have friends if he wants his life to change for the better. He was given the chance to do so by moving into Roselake, might as well start something tonight. 

“Cousin, are you sure you’re going to be able to handle this? Where we’re going isn’t gonna be just some fun party place,” Sehun says, looking into the rearview at Chanyeol who has his eyes closed, relaxed as he leans back against his seat. 

“So you’re hanging out with suspicious people?” Chanyeol muses with a small smirk. 

“Bad people do the best fun,” Nayoung shrugs. “It’s going to be amazing. We’re hanging out with a couple of cool people from the other side of town and there will be a band.” 

“Sounds neat,” Chanyeol nonchalantly says, opening his eyes as he stretches his arms out to feel the wind whip against his hand. 

“We’re here,” Sehun announces not even fifteen minutes later. They pull up next to a large warehouse. Nothing seemed out of ordinary about it, unless you listen in closely and hear the deep thumping of the bass. 

“This is the place?” Chanyeol wonders as he hops out of the car, trailing after the twins. He whistles as he clicks his tongue and adds, “It does seem shady.” 

“Shut up and come on,” Sehun murmurs, leading them down to the side of the warehouse. They see a door with a closed window at the side, which Sehun approaches. He then knocks loudly at its metallic surface and steps back, hands in his pockets. Seconds later, the metallic panel covering the window on the door slides open, revealing a pair of sharp eyes. 

“Pass?” the person demands. 

Sehun whips out a card, holding it in between his middle and index finger then hands it through the window. The person takes it and closes the window again without saying anything. Not even ten seconds later, the door clicks and it opens, revealing a large burly man with the scene of a wild and full-out party in the background. 

“Come in,” he grumbles, stepping to the side to let them all in. 

The first thing Chanyeol does when he steps into the warehouse is gasp out loud in awe, eyes wide as he looks around. There is an impressive sea of people clad in black and leather crowded in the middle of the warehouse, shouting and dancing to the heavy punk music blaring from the speakers played live by a band with blinding lights of green, blue and violet flashing everywhere. He has been to parties before, but he never seen one as big and rowdy as this one, and it’s kind of giving him a culture shock. 

“How is it?” Nayoung smiles, spreading her arms out. 

“Absolutely _wicked_ ,” Chanyeol exclaims. “It’s nothing I’ve ever seen.” 

“Roselake isn’t anything compared to the big cities, but we know how to throw a party,” Sehun winks, patting Chanyeol’s arm before turning around and meeting halfway with a shorter guy with round beady eyes, pulling him down into a heated kiss. 

“Well, Junmyeon is here so Sehun is gone, and I’ll be gone too,” Nayoung says. “Use your charm, flaunt your assets and find someone hot as company. I’ll be off.” 

Chanyeol only nods, watching Nayoung saunter off towards a group of girls in the distance before he turns around to mingle in with the crowd. 

To be honest, it wasn’t hard to attract people. Chanyeol isn’t the type to flaunt himself, but if he does on the rarest occasions like right now, he doesn’t fail to make people gravitate towards him. Not even an hour through the party and he already has girls clinging on to him like a bunch of pollen onto wool. It tickles his ego to know he had this effect on other people if he actually tried but at the same time, his never-dying anti-social self cries at the overwhelming attention that he is getting. 

For a little while, Chanyeol entertained everyone, giving them his most charming smile and talking to them in the smoothest way he possibly could. 

It’s all fun and games until everything got too much and Chanyeol started to struggle out of the suffocating bunch swarming him. 

“You look tired.” 

Chanyeol flinches in surprise while leaning against the wall and hiding himself from some of the hardheaded girls who can’t leave him alone. He looks to the side, finding a petite blond boy leaning against the wall next to him while holding a can of beer. When he looks up to face him, Chanyeol’s jaw drops, feeling like someone has punched him in the gut. 

He has never seen someone this fucking beautiful. 

The boy in front of him has such a pretty face, with brown eyes lined black, a cute nose and plump downturned lips, framed by messy blond hair that somehow suspiciously looked like bed hair. His ears bear round black piercings, and his long neck is collared by a black choker. He wears a black crop top that boldly reveals his flat belly and conveniently shows his narrow waist with the neckline hanging low enough to reveal his collarbones, topped with a red leather jacket over his broad shoulders, matched with light blue tattered jeans that hang over his wide hips and black combat boots. Peeking up the waistband of his jeans and through the holes were fishnet stockings that made Chanyeol feel all sorts of weird things. 

“Hey,” the blond boy says, trying to get him back to earth by clicking his fingers in front of his face. “You okay?” 

Chanyeol flinches, shaking his head before he regains his composure. 

“I’m fine! Just a bit tired, you see.” 

The blond boy hums as he chugs down his beer, smoldering eyes never leaving Chanyeol. It makes the taller feel strangely hot, especially when he puts his beer down and slowly lick his lips in such a mesmerizing way that has Chanyeol’s eyes following the movement. 

_Is he doing this on purpose?_

“Anyway, I’ve never seen someone like you around town,” the blond boy says, tilting his head to the side. 

“I just moved here, actually,” Chanyeol scratches his nape. “I am Park Chanyeol.” 

“I see,” the shorter nods. “I’m Byun Baekhyun, nice to meet you.” 

“Baekhyun…” Chanyeol rolls the syllables over his tongue slowly. “Nice to meet you, too.” 

“You seem really popular with the girls,” Baekhyun begins casually, tilting his can towards the crowd. 

“How’d you know?” 

“I can’t help but notice someone as gorgeous as you walk around with all of them swarming you like flies around a feast.” 

Chanyeol’s veins are on fire when he hears that, matched with the dark look in Baekhyun’s eyes as he smirks up at him. 

“You look so stunned,” he chuckles as he steps even closer, allowing his presence to creep up on Chanyeol. It slowly attacks him, filling him up until he couldn’t see anything else but the beautiful male in front of him. 

“You’re probably straight, sorry,” he smiles mischievously as he tilts his head, not the least apologetic. “Is this your first time getting hit on by a guy?” 

“It’s my first time getting hit on by a _really_ hot guy, yeah.” 

Baekhyun chuckles deeply in amusement as he steps even closer more than ever. At this point, Chanyeol is blinded by everything about him. His senses are filled by Baekhyun because he’s just so undeniably attracted to him, so gravitated into his orbit that it’s hard to pull away. 

“You think I’m hot?” Baekhyun almost purrs, a dainty hand reaching out to slowly caress Chanyeol’s chest. 

“Anyone who has eyes can see that, Byun Baekhyun.” 

Baekhyun chuckles, an endearing sound that makes Chanyeol smile yet at the same time, it stirs his loins with interest. 

“You’re good with words Chanyeol, I like that.” 

Chanyeol pouts. “You only like an attribute about me? Shame, I’ve started to like _you_.” 

The lights suddenly turn a tantalizing strobe of red, lavender and pink as the music shifts to a more moody and sensual tone that has everyone changing their steps. People begin moving against each other to the sensuous beat, sweat, skin and tension everywhere. 

“Wanna dance?” Baekhyun asks, stretching a hand out. 

Without even hesitating, Chanyeol nods and puts his hand in his, allowing the smaller male to drag him into the crowd. Baekhyun boldly pulls him against him, their bodies pressed up against each other, leaving no space behind. He takes Chanyeol’s hands and puts them on his hips while he reaches up and hangs his arms around his neck. 

Chanyeol’s breathing starts to lower and become sparse, carnal desire shooting through his system when Baekhyun starts moving against him. He blames it not only at the way he moves, but in the way his eyes bore deep into his soul while he dances against him. They are so alluring, so destructively erotic in the way they easily pull at the strings of Chanyeol’s sanity and make him fall to his temptation. 

“You make me feel hot,” Chanyeol whispers darkly into Baekhyun’s ear, his hot breath fanning against his neck and making him shudder with a satisfied smile. 

“I’m not even doing anything yet,” Baekhyun teases, pulling him down and having their faces dangerously close to each other. Chanyeol could just tilt his head the right way and those plump lips would be his, but he liked being teased this way. 

They didn’t communicate through words. As they danced, they let their body talk do the work, and it was enough. Chanyeol’s hands start to get naughty, finding their way up until his fingers brush over the exposed skin just above Baekhyun’s jeans. He smirks when this evidently affects the other boy, whose breath hitches and skin starts to heat up. 

“I’ve never wanted someone this much, fuck,” Baekhyun finally murmurs, his breath fanning hotly against Chanyeol’s face, his cool demeanor stripped down as he needily clings against the taller male. 

“Then what do you want to do?” Chanyeol mutters, eyes hooded. 

Baekhyun doesn’t answer. Instead, Chanyeol feels him tilt his head up, lips touching his but not quite. They lightly brush against each other in such a frustratingly teasing way. Baekhyun opens his mouth in invitation, and an eager Chanyeol leans in for it but the smaller immediately pulls away, smiling slyly as he grabs Chanyeol’s hand and pulls him out of the crowd and out of the warehouse. 

Baekhyun had his own convertible, a sleek black one that hides well underneath the black veil of the night. They get on it, but the ride was so quick that the next thing Chanyeol knows is that he is in a motel, getting shoved into a room and having an aroused beautiful boy up on him, kissing him languidly as his hands move under his shirt. 

“You think you can give me one hell of a night?” Baekhyun murmurs against his lips as his fingers shoot up to weave through his hair. 

Chanyeol lets out a breathless moan when Baekhyun bites his bottom lip. 

“I’ll work you up to a high you’ll never forget, I’ll do my best,” the taller whispers as he harshly presses his lips against Baekhyun’s, both their hands fumbling to get rid of their clothes. Chanyeol’s hands push at Baekhyun’s leather jacket, sliding them off from his shoulders and letting it fall on the ground followed by his crop top, revealing the beautiful view of his surprisingly muscular body and smooth skin. Meanwhile, Baekhyun helps take Chanyeol’s shirt off followed by his jeans. 

The next moment, Chanyeol finds himself pressed up against the wall, moaning as Baekhyun manages to pull down his jeans along with his underwear, relieving his hard cock by letting it out, exposed. 

“I scored good,” Baekhyun licks his lips as his dainty hands wrap around Chanyeol’s large shaft, eyes glinting with lust. 

“Fuck yeah…” Chanyeol grunts when Baekhyun slowly starts pumping him, squeezing around him just the right way, putting a good amount of pressure around his shaft. 

“You look so big and delicious, definitely the best so far,” Baekhyun whispers, grinning slyly up at the taller. 

“That means I deserve a good sucking, don’t I?” 

A few of Chanyeol’s braincells go haywire when Baekhyun sticks his tongue out and slowly makes his trek from the base up to the tip of the cock, leaving a trail of slick wetness. 

He leans away, slowly pumping the shaft. 

“Indeed, you do.” 

Chanyeol feels his soul leaving his body, pathetically throwing his head back and letting out something close to a shameless whine when he feels himself getting sucked in by such a delectable, warm wetness. But the warmth disappeared as fast as it had suddenly come, making Chanyeol blink down, eyebrows furrowed as he meets Baekhyun’s mirthful smile. 

“You seemed to like that a lot,” Baekhyun murmurs, hands moving to slowly stimulate Chanyeol. “Been long since you got yourself a good mouthfuck?” 

“I dare you to change that,” Chanyeol whispers through gritted teeth as his fingers lightly weave through Baekhyun’s blond locks, pushing them out of his face so he could really see his pretty face while he serviced him. 

Baekhyun simply hums. He takes his sweet time pushing at Chanyeol’s buttons by sticking his little tongue out and swirling it around the cockhead, plunging teasingly into the precum-soaked tip before he trails it down under his shaft. His eyes are dark this time, losing the playfulness in them as he teases him with that sinful tongue. Chanyeol’s breathing is heavy, eyes hooded as he watches Baekhyun keep on edging him, poking him to the edge of his sanity. 

“I want this in me already,” Baekhyun moans as he licks up a big fat stripe under the shaft once more before he kisses the tip. 

“Would already be in if you didn’t waste your time, just saying,” Chanyeol rasps. 

Baekhyun grins. 

“Getting impatient?” 

“Just looking out for you, I know you want to ride me already.” 

Baekhyun laughs. 

“How _cocky_ , but you aren’t wrong.” 

Chanyeol lets out a satisfied moan when Baekhyun finally gets him inside his mouth. He did this by wrapping his lips around his cockhead before slowly stuffing himself up inch by inch with the huge shaft. It hits the back of his throat, but he doesn’t even gag and just goes even further down until he reaches base before he pulls away, a sliver of saliva connecting his lips to the cock while his eyes seem a bit glazed from intense lust. 

“Fucking shit, you take me in so well,” Chanyeol groans, turned on even more as he tugs at his hair. 

“Chanyeol, you taste so good… so delicious and big just for me…” Baekhyun moans as he stuffs his mouth full with cock again, making very lewd slurping noises as he drinks all of his precum in willingly, sucking in everything and hoping for more. 

Chanyeol closes his eyes, biting his lip as he savors the delectable feel of that tight wetness gracing his cock with its warm embrace. He keeps on moaning lowly, feeling so damn good as Baekhyun hungrily fills his mouth with cock, sucking up and down the length with a whorish need. When Chanyeol opens his eyes, he breaks out into a sexy little smile when he sees Baekhyun looking so ruined, eyes wet with tears and saliva dripping down his chin as he just keeps on sucking him off like a goddamn pro, like it’s something he’s born to do everyday. 

“You should see yourself right now,” Chanyeol grins as he brushes the hair out of his face. 

Baekhyun looks up with lethal dark eyes, his tongue teasingly caressing his whole cockhead before suddenly sucking harshly at his cock that it makes Chanyeol break out into a loud, almost-whiny groan. 

“Shit…” Chanyeol growls as he fists a handful of Baekhyun’s blond locks then thrusts his hips forward. 

“Yes, fuck yes...” Baekhyun moans out whorishly when he manages to pull away. “Fuck my mouth. Gag me with your cock until I feel it down my throat, I like it rough.” 

“Damn you little cockwhore,” Chanyeol laughs in delight, breaking out into a moan when he starts fucking himself into Baekhyun’s mouth, who can only keep on moaning so much as he holds on to Chanyeol’s legs for stability. 

A familiar tightening sensation comes, plaguing Chanyeol as he hastens his ministrations and shoves his big fat cock down Baekhyun’s hardworking mouth. 

“I’m gonna cum,” he says through gritted teeth. He stops fucking into Baekhyun, taking his cock out of his mouth whose tongue lols open lewdly. 

“More please, more…” Baekhyun pleads pathetically, opening his mouth wider as his tongue stretches out even more, tons of drool trickling down his mouth. “Stuff me up more with your cock, I love it so much.” 

“I’m going to cum,” Chanyeol murmurs, hands around his length as he pumps himself. “Open up, I’m giving you a treat.” 

Baekhyun looks so obscene as he awaits for Chanyeol’s cum, tongue stretched out with his eyes droopy in desperate need. It arouses him so much that he pumps himself harder, grunting heavily until he finally explodes white. He does his best to shoot his semen into Baekhyun’s eager mouth, but more of it finds their way across his pretty face, gracing his cheeks and lips. They delicately glint under the dim lights, the drops dribbling down his face sensually. 

“You look so pretty, just for me,” Chanyeol sighs as he leans back, tenderly running his fingers through Baekhyun’s hair as he starts licking the cum off his face with a finger. 

“All for you,” Baekhyun purrs lowly as he sucks on a finger with a pop, then a teasing smile that has Chanyeol gritting his teeth, losing control. 

Grabbing him by the arms, Chanyeol pulls him up to his feet and then throws him to the bed, the mattress bouncing lightly as Baekhyun crashes in the middle of the softness. The taller immediately crawls over him, kissing him messily while he fumbles with his jeans then pulls them down, revealing the kinky visual of the fishnet stockings stretching over the fair skin of Baekhyun’s legs. 

“Everything about you is pretty,” Chanyeol murmurs lowly as his rough hands travel over Baekhyun’s netted thighs. When he squeezes them, he gets the pleasant delight of discovering how fucking full they are as the netted flesh leaks out of the spaces of his fingers. He groans, desire bubbling up inside him as he suddenly snaps his head to the side and bites into the fatty flesh, causing Baekhyun to yelp at the feel of teeth digging into his skin. He busies himself by going batshit crazy on the plump thighs, gracing them generously with so much bitemarks while his hands work to knead over his ass, causing Baekhyun to whine continuously. 

A yelp resonates out of Baekhyun when Chanyeol suddenly manhandles him on to his fours. He pushes him down the mattress, pulling his ass up and roughly spreads Baekhyun’s asscheeks, revealing the delicate pink of muscle hiding in between the fishnet patterns. 

“W-What are you doing- ah!” Baekhyun screams out in bliss when Chanyeol drags his tongue down the crevice of his ass after he tears through the fishnet. 

“Chanyeol… Is that okay?” Baekhyun whimpers as he squirms when he feels Chanyeol’s tongue prod at the rim of his most sensitive part, teasing him before he feels himself getting stretched as it finally ventures into his hole. 

It’s all hot and Chanyeol feels his cock getting up and erect as he eats Baekhyun out with refine, relishing in the addicting heat. Everything is sweet and salty, and Chanyeol loves it. He drools over the hole, wetting it up with his saliva as he eats him up, devours him like a slice of the most elaborately made cake. 

“Feels so good…” Baekhyun whimpers as he arches his back, wiggling his hips subtly as he rides the lithe tongue. Chanyeol squeezes Baekhyun’s asscheeks, groaning at the rush that he is feeling before he perks up and slaps his ass. Baekhyun jolts forward and moans, looking over his shoulder with such a fucked out look – eyes cloudy with tears, tongue lolling out and face red from the heat flustering him – that Chanyeol had to do everything he could not to lash out. 

Restraining himself and only releasing the right amount of control, Chanyeol lays down on the mattress and pulls Baekhyun with him until the smaller is half laying on his chest. He pulls his thighs up, spreading him out and dribbles lube over his hole before slowly inching his fingers in past through the pretty puff of muscle that hid between two fishnetted plump mountains. 

“O-Oh my g-gosh…” Baekhyun quivers, covering his mouth as he lets out a shaky little moan when Chanyeol’s rough finger start to slowly caress his insides back and forth. He’s not hitting anything, but the feel of his callouses against his walls is just too much, too erotic that he can’t help but let out all these pretty, obscene sounds. 

“Do you like this?” Chanyeol whispers in his ear. “Do you like the feel of my finger violating you like this?” 

“Feels good…” Baekhyun whines as he throws his ass back, trying to get more satisfaction. 

“Do you want more? I’ve got ten fingers ready to screw you over, Baekhyun. Just say it and I’ll spoil you as much as you want.” 

“Just stuff me up,” Baekhyun breathes, his body tensing when Chanyeol puts pressure on a spot within him. He whimpers, gazing at Chanyeol with pleading eyes. When the taller releases the pressure, his body shivers and relaxes as he whines appreciatively. 

“Go all the way, Ch-Chanyeol…” Baekhyun whispers. “Cram everything up in me, make me full until I couldn’t take it anymore.” 

“You’re so sinful,” Chanyeol groans as he sits up and manhandles Baekhyun until he’s in all his fours again. Chanyeol does this without pulling his fingers out and when he’s had him nice and pliant on his knees, he fucks his fingers up into his prostate, pushing him to the edge. 

“Ah!” Baekhyun moans, shrinking into himself as he moves his hips, getting more of the fingers into him. “I’m cumming…” 

Baekhyun looks to the side, begging at Chanyeol with pretty, droopy eyes hazy with lust as he reaches out and slowly pumps the taller’s cock, who moans heavily at the movement. 

“Please make me cum… Please… Please…” 

Being such a good boy, Chanyeol wraps an arm around Baekhyun’s waist and fingers him with all of his strength in the other arm, his veins contracting as he does his best to wind him up the way he deserves. Baekhyun jolts, moaning like a bitch in heat, murmuring little pleads until he finally cums. His thighs quiver and he loses control over his limbs until he plops down on the bed, exhausted as he sobs at the strong rush of ecstasy in his system. 

“Got your fill?” Chanyeol murmurs in his ear as he drapes his body over Baekhyun and softly kisses his shoulder while his hand travels up and down his curves, enjoying the smoothness of his skin against his palms. 

“Fuck me,” Baekhyun begs again. “I want you in me, quickly.” 

Chanyeol hums as he flips Baekhyun over. He ignores his whiny sounds as Chanyeol dips down and goes off like a madman as he starts licking down Baekhyun’s neck, preparing the area before he lunges down and starts to create violent shades of blue and red against his skin that runs down to his chest. There, Chanyeol stops. He makes Baekhyun’s mind go haywire when he smirks at him before he proceeds to suck at his nipples. 

“Pretty,” Chanyeol comments cheekily as he creates lewd sounds of his saliva-drenched lips against the soft areolas of his rosy nipples. There’s literally nothing there, but Chanyeol reaches to the other nipple and squeezes the little fat that Baekhyun’s breast had, before his fingers flick at the bud. 

“Better than a woman’s, I swear,” Chanyeol comments, having the time of his life as he gazes at Baekhyun’s flustered face as his tongue laps at his nipples. 

“That’s ridiculous,” Baekhyun laughs softly as he wraps his arms around Chanyeol neck and brings him closer to his body, tenderly kissing his forehead before he throws his head back and lets out a moan. 

“But it’s true,” Chanyeol looks up and licks his lips. “You are erotic.” 

Chanyeol lets his tongue give Baekhyun's tits some love as he subconsciously presses his thighs down to the bed. When he realizes this, Chanyeol moves away and gasps, impressed at how far back he can go. 

“So fucking flexible,” he muses, smiling cheekily up at Baekhyun who just leans his head back and laughs. 

“Makes everything easier, wouldn’t it?” Baekhyun softly says, reaching out to hold Chanyeol’s face in his hands. Chanyeol hauls himself up, engaging into a tender liplock with Baekhyun while he slides a condom around his cock. Pumping himself slowly, he aligns his cock at his entrance. 

Baekhyun lets out a whorish moan when Chanyeol inches into him, his member stretching the walls of his most private parts with an aim to wreak havoc within him. Chanyeol makes sure he does it slowly, doing all he could to restrain himself from lashing out at the perfection that was the entirety of Byun Baekhyun’s being. He’s so tight and so warm, such a delicious feeling wrapped around him. His member is snug inside him, almost as if he’s made to be lodged like this within Baekhyun - connected. 

Meanwhile, Baekhyun’s having trouble breathing. He’s panting heavily, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth. His eyes are hooded with lust as he stares up at Chanyeol, his facial muscles taut because of the intensity of the sensations through his body. 

“Now,” Baekhyun breathes, and Chanyeol does as he is told. 

He takes his time, slowly letting his cock penetrate into Baekhyun, his walls savoring the feel of Chanyeol’s length grazing against them. Baekhyun starts whimpering, lip between his teeth as Chanyeol ruts into him in slow but deadly intensity. The taller can’t help but keep on moaning, loving the heat so much. 

“I’m going crazy,” Chanyeol groans, burying his face in the crook of Baekhyun’s neck. “You feel so good, fuck…” 

Baekhyun’s jaw falls open as Chanyeol rolls his hips down so deep he feels his cock caress parts within him that has never been reached. Chanyeol grunts, loving how tight he feels around, addicted to the feel of his cock being squeezed everytime he goes in and out. 

That’s why he doesn’t slack off and gives Baekhyun the dicking of his life. 

Whorish wails echo through the room as Chanyeol pulls out and turns Baekhyun around. With his chest down on the bed, Chanyeol pulls his ass up and plunges deep into him, mounting him like an animal and thrusting into him harshly. He bends forward, body draping over Baekhyun’s back, whispering dirty, breathy words into his ear as he just fucks him hard. 

“You like my cock, baby?” Chanyeol whispers. “Is it the best? How do I feel in you, screwing you like this? You’re so tight, do you know that? You’re squeezing the cum out of me, that’s how hungry you are.” Chanyeol laughs breathily when he feels Baekhyun tighten even more around him. “You’re even clenching around me, so possessive.” 

“P-Please…” is all that Baekhyun could say when Chanyeol pulls him up, both of them kneeling on the bed with Baekhyun’s back flush against his chest. A shrill cry leaps out of his mouth as Chanyeol fucks up into him with thrusts that rattles his foundations. Baekhyun starts losing his mind when Chanyeol reaches around to pump his heavy cock. 

“I’m cumming,” Baekhyun breathes as he throws his hips back, desperate to heighten up the friction. “Fuck me harder… Harder…” 

Chanyeol pulls out, causing Baekhyun to whine. He then falls to the mattress and hauls Baekhyun up to his lap, helping him go down his cock once more. He keeps on moaning wantonly as he takes in every inch until he’s down base. 

“F-Fuck yes…” Baekhyun moans, hands caressing down his body as he moves his hips sensually almost immediately. He throws his head back, biting his lip as he gazes heatedly down at Chanyeol, who feels like melting at how hot Baekhyun is. 

“Please fuck me harder, Chanyeol… I’m a good boy, aren’t I? Fuck me well until I’m cumming for you,” Baekhyun begs as his pace turns faster. His hips go from only swiveling back and forth to really pounding himself up and down over Chanyeol’s length, desperate to get him deeper than he already is. He’s high off his want to have a good cock screw him inside out, it’s making him greedy. 

Chanyeol holds Baekhyun's hips and does as he is told. He braces his legs on the bed then plummets in and out of the delectable warmth, moaning so loudly on his own, probably even louder than Baekhyun who’s already losing mind. 

“You like how hot I am around you, don’t you?” Baekhyun says. “You like how good my ass makes you feel, you like that I can go as rough as you want. I’m such a cockwhore for you, make me take all of you. Mess my insides, however you want.” 

“So intense,” Chanyeol chuckles. 

“I’m cumming!” Baekhyun shrieks out again when Chanyeol reaches up to pump his hard cock. 

“Fuck… _ah ah ah_...” he sobs, falling down to kiss Chanyeol as he throws his hips up and down at a heightened pace, harsh sounds of his ass slapping against Chanyeol’s thighs. 

Chanyeol groans loudly, almost like a whine when he cums along with Baekhyun, who spurts all over his hands and in between their chests. Chanyeol lost comprehension for a moment, eyes rolling back with his sight going white, losing himself over the best orgasm that he’s had in a while. 

No, scratch that. 

It’s the best orgasm that he’s had in a lifetime. 

“So fucking good,” Baekhyun moans, panting heavily as he laps up at the salty white liquid, eyes dark as he obscenely drags his hot tongue up until he makes out with the taller male again. 

“Another round, Chanyeol,” he whispers. 

And really, who is Chanyeol to go against that? 

  
  
  
  
  


Morning comes so soon for the night has been spent too much on intimacy, and Chanyeol is forced to wake up as dictated by his body schedule. Muscles sore and his eyebags thick, Chanyeol sits up and stretches as he yawns loudly. 

At first, it’s peaceful. Chanyeol looks out of the window, eyes squinted the slightest as he stares at the sunlight striking the window pane. Slowly, his eyes then drift towards the figure next to him on the bed. 

And that’s when he gets jolted back to reality. 

Chanyeol shoves the covers off his body and quickly starts slipping his clothes on. On his way to look for his shirt, he grabs his phone from his pocket and makes a call. His eyes drift back to the boy on the bed, who looks so peaceful sleeping under the white sheets. He even looks different than what he could remember last night – softer and more precious, a total turn from the sexy boy clad in an enticing outfit that he had met last night. 

What a dangerous duality. 

_“Chanyeol?”_ comes Sehun’s voice after the first few rings. 

“Thank god for answering,” Chanyeol says in a hushed voice. “Can you pick me up? I’ll tell you the address.” 

_“Jeez, I’m glad you’re alive. I thought you’ve been abducted,”_ Sehun snickers. “Anyway, how was it?” 

“I just want to get out of here, Sehun.” 

_“Your voice sound so raspy, was it that good?”_

“Sehun…” 

_“Okay, alright. Message me the address, I’m on my way.”_

When Sehun puts the call down, Chanyeol quickly puts his shirt on. He feels a bit gross in his used clothes, but he didn’t have any choice. Once he finishes, Chanyeol dashes out of the room, sparing Baekhyun a glance before he rushes out. 

It feels a bit rude for him to do this especially since Baekhyun had been nothing but such a blessing to his sexually frustrated self last night, but Chanyeol knows he’s doing the both of them a favor by making it all easier and more convenient. 

At least, that’s what he thinks. 

Everyone that Chanyeol has slept with back in the city after parties that he has been to didn’t show any fondness for morning after routines and end up avoiding him like the plague after all that, so he figures this might be the case again. 

“Too bad,” he murmurs as he proceeds down the motel and does the courtesy of paying for the room before he stands outside to wait for Sehun to pick him up. 

  
  
  
  
  


Life for Chanyeol goes on as boring as it usually does. That one night was his peak, and now he’s moving on a constant boring pace. It sucks, but it’s in his nature. His personality. He’s bland and dull and he has to stick up to it. 

Summer passes without _incredible_ events happening anymore and before Chanyeol even realizes it, the school year has come upon him. He is nervous as fuck, having no idea how to survive when the only people he knows his age in this town are Sehun and Nayoung, but they are a year younger than him so he is practically alone. 

This is the worst part of moving – not being able to know anyone and have a hard time finding people to hang-out with. 

“Don’t be sad, Chanyeol,” Nayoung coos with her lips jutted out in a babying way, looking over to Chanyeol from the frontseat. 

“Can I just not go to school instead?” Chanyeol sulkily says, his arms crossed over his chest. His raven hair whips in the air, annoying him so much yet he did not feel like doing anything about it. A little while later, Chanyeol groans at how his bangs hurt his eyes so he takes out a rubber band from his pockets and ties his bangs up into a sprout. 

“Education is important,” Sehun says as he drives down a bumpy turn. “You shouldn’t let your social life clash with your education.” 

“Miss me with that bullshit,” Chanyeol grumbles as he sags into his seat, throws his head back and groans. His negative vibes affects the twins, who glances at each other and release a sigh. 

Upon reaching school, Chanyeol is intimidated by the amount of students loitering around the hallways, excitedly chattering among themselves and catching up to their over-summer shenanigans. He starts to craft a plan off the top of his head in order to escape away for the day and then make the twins think that he has been in school when afternoon comes. 

“3-C,” Chanyeol reads his section off the top of the document that he had taken from the student affairs office. 

“We’ll accompany you to your room,” Sehun says, which makes Chanyeol quickly snap his head towards him with his face slightly showing his horror. 

“You don’t have to!” Chanyeol cries out as Nayoung and Sehun grabs him by the arms and pushes into the flow of students making their way down the hallway. His plan – it’s going to be ruined at this rate! 

“You will lose your way easily around here, the lay-outing of this school is pretty shit,” Sehun laughs as they go up the stairs and lead Chanyeol into a new floor. 

“We shouldn’t even be here, people with more seniority act like assholes most of the time towards us lower years,” Nayoung mumbles as she cautiously avoids someone’s shoulder from bumping into her. 

“Then go away, I can locate my room just perfectly fine on my own,” Chanyeol grumbles as he tries to pull his arms out of the twins’ grasp but they just tighten their grip on him like a couple of leeches. 

A little while later, the trio stops in front of a classroom. When Chanyeol lifts his head a bit, he sees the signage “3-C” up on top of the door frame. He sighs heavily and gives the twins a helpless glance that goes ignored as Nayoung fixed his hoodie while Sehun adjusted the little sprout on top of his head that held his bangs away from his face. 

“You look funky,” Nayoung comments as she brushes the dust off his shoulders. 

“Ready to rock ‘n roll, cousin?” Sehun cheerfully says. 

“Help,” Chanyeol squeaks. 

And with one rough push, Chanyeol stumbles into the room. 

It was horrible. 

Not really horrible (he’s just being dramatic) because thankfully, he wasn’t forced to introduce himself in front of class like all those teen movies seem to always show (he’s been worrying for nothing) and nor did he have to socialize. It’s just that Chanyeol didn’t feel comfortable at all, and everything just suffocated him. 

Not even halfway through the morning, Chanyeol leaves his classroom and treads through the hallways quietly, trying to find a good place to hide. 

After a while, Chanyeol finds a stairway that led up to the rooftop. He begs to any god listening to him right now that no one is up there he has to share the space with because he desperately needed the solitude brought by the peace and quiet. 

Fortunately enough, Chanyeol doesn’t see anyone up there. He locks the door and runs over to the edge, looking down at the grounds below before he looks up to the sprawling skies above. His hand creeps into his pocket, fishing out a packet of cigarettes, fingers fidgeting to open it up and produce out a stick. He takes a moment to look around before he lights the stick up at will then brings it up to his lips for a puff. 

As he lets the smoke fog his lungs then blow it out like steam (usual representation of the frustration in his mind coming to a cooling egress out of his body), Chanyeol feels himself relax slowly. The tension accumulating in his body in just a few hours has been too much. 

Suddenly, the cigarette gets snatched out of his fingers. Annoyed, Chanyeol turns to the side and prepares himself to burn down whoever it was rude enough to do such a thing. 

That’s until he sees who it is. 

Chanyeol gapes in awe, staring at the blond beauty leaning against the wall next to him. He takes a long drag off of the cigarette stick before he turns to the taller male and blows the smoke into his face. When the smoke dissipates, he tilts his head to the side and grins lazily. 

“Remember me, babe?” 

Blond hair swept to the side, sharp pitch black eyes, downturned lips curved in a sly smile, pale elegant neck adorned with a chain choker, sleeveless black shirt tucked into high-waisted light blue jeans that hung over wide hips, a red and black plaid shirt shoved off his shoulders but hang messily down his elbows, combat boots that sound noisy against cement… 

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol manages to mumble, gazing in wonder at the blond. 

“Bingo,” Baekhyun laughs as he takes the cigarette out of his lips then transfers it back to Chanyeol, his dainty fingers coming into contact with the taller’s plump lips. 

“Nice to see you again.” 

Chanyeol tenses, intimidated by his smile. 

“I’m sorry.” 

It was sudden, and Chanyeol did not really know what compelled him to apologize. Most probably because of the residual guilt streaming through his conscience when he left that morning after their one night stand. 

Baekhyun seems taken aback for a moment, mouth ajar as he gazes curiously up at Chanyeol before he lets out an amused chortle. 

“Well aren’t you an intriguing one?” he snickers, shaking his head. “You scream fuckboy hidden in the guise of a cute boy-next-door-who’d-fuck-you-if-you-asked.” 

“Is there even any difference?” Chanyeol sighs as he ruffles the hair near his nape. 

“Doesn’t matter,” Baekhyun grins, his voice lowering as he steps into Chanyeol’s personal space. He is a total stranger, yet Chanyeol doesn’t flinch, doesn’t evade his presence intruding into his personal space. The intimidating and predatory energy that Baekhyun exudes was familiar and something that attracts Chanyeol so much that he doesn’t find it in him to pull away. 

“I want to mess up your system Park Chanyeol, and puzzle everything back with a little essence of me in each piece.” 

Baekhyun tilts his head up with a charming smile, glazed cheek tugging up. 

“In other words, I want to be friends with you.” 

He lifts a hand up to the taller. 

“So? What do you say?” 

Chanyeol does, of course. 

And by taking that hand in his larger one and shaking it, it didn’t just mean permission for someone like Baekhyun to mess up Chanyeol’s mundane life. 

_It’s also a permission for other things that he never thought he will have to experience in this lifetime to mess everything up as well._

“So, why are you up here?” 

Both of them have started smoking, staring out into the vast mixture of greenery and buildings sprawling out into the horizon in front of them. I 

“I just hate crowds and people, especially in a foreign place,” Chanyeol sighs, blowing out smoke through his mouth. “I don’t even smoke much, it’s just when I’m stressed.” 

Baekhyun hums as he nods his head in understanding. 

“That’s normal, I guess,” Baekhyun shrugs. “It’s good you’re out here, you can’t afford to stress yourself out. It’s tiring.” 

“But how about you?” Chanyeol turns to his side and glances at Baekhyun’s side profile (which was amazing, just to mention by the way). “Why are you up here?” 

“I just feel like it,” Baekhyun shrugs. “I have a burning and fervent irritation for mortal education. I simply don’t have the patience to put up with it..” 

Chanyeol isn’t quite sure what he meant by _‘mortal’_ education, but he chuckles. 

“You’re edgy,” he comments. 

“Yeah, I’m aware.” 

Baekhyun straightens up and turns to the other male then leans his body against the wall. 

“Hey, I don’t really know much about you other than you’re new here. Wanna tell me how you got to Roselake?” 

Cigarettes and teenage angst, what a perfect way to spend the first day of school. 

“Well basically, my parents died,” Chanyeol shrugs, trying to pass it off nonchalantly. “I’m still a minor so my aunt picked me up from the city and yeah - here I am.” 

“Sounds like something out of Twilight.” 

Chanyeol laughs. 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” 

“And I’m a vampire, your very own Edward Cullen,” Baekhyun says, voice dropping low with a sultry undertone as he steps closer towards Chanyeol and tiptoes, head slanted. The taller’s hands immediately find their way on his hips, holding him there as his eyes turn hooded, fixtated on Baekhyun’s cherry red lips. 

“You know, I really like you,” Baekhyun whispers, his breath gently caressing Chanyeol’s face. “You fuck well, you’re handsome, you’re a normal guy and I like it. You definitely complement me.” 

“You’re so straightforward.” 

“Do you hate it?” 

“Nah.” 

Chanyeol pulls him in closer, smiling mischievously. 

“I don’t hate it at all. Rather, it really excites me. I’m glad you still want to have anything to do me with me after I left you that night.” 

“You were too good of a fuck to let go,” Baekhyun sighs dramatically, causing Chanyeol to laugh out loud. 

“Anyway, wanna attend classes?” 

  
  
  
  
  


“Looks like someone enjoyed the first day of school.” 

Chanyeol grunts as he sits next to the twins who are snacking on bowls of cereal. He just got home from school, staying back and letting the twins go ahead first because he hung around the rooftop until way past school ended. 

Chanyeol places his arms on the table, folding them on one spot and plops his head down, sighing heavily. 

“What’s up with you?” Sehun snickers, nudging their tall cousin with the back of his spoon. 

“Is he dead?” Nayoung wonders when Chanyeol does not respond. 

“He’s been hanging out with Byun Baekhyun, that guy sucks the life force out of anyone who dares stay by his side,” Sehun states, raising his eyebrows and exchanging a knowing look with his twin before they look over at Chanyeol. 

“What are you guys talking about? Baekhyun was amazing,” Chanyeol says when he sits up, rolling eyes up, looking as if he’s having an orgasm. “School and just simply being around with people naturally drains me up, I’m dying from having to suffer that hellhole filled with loud hormonal teenagers and old at-the-brink-of-retirement teachers. It’s making me want to just run myself over with an Argentinosaurus.” 

“Nerd,” Sehun rolls his eyes. “But anyway, how did you even get close to Byun Baekhyun? The guy thinks he’s above everyone else, what does he see in a lame dude who just transferred from the city like you?” 

“Because I’m from the _city_ , that makes me cool enough to walk around and embarrass myself to be with someone as luxurious like Byun Baekhyun,” Chanyeol says with mock pride before he rolls his eyes. 

“Kidding. I actually fucked his juicy ass last summer,” he adds in deadpan. 

Two spoons fall to the table, dark brown eyes blown wide and mouths fall in shock. 

“He’s the one you slept with that night?!” Sehun yells, hands shooting up to his hair. 

“The only boy I’d go straight for and you slept with him? You lucky bastard!” Nayoung cries out, sobbing as she presses a fist to her chest. 

Chanyeol shrugs, smirking to himself, feeling a bit smug. 

“I’m not that pathetic, right? I can snag anyone I want if I actually tried.” 

“And Byun Baekhyun out of all people,” Sehun clicks his tongue. “Gosh, have you even heard the rumors about him?” 

Chanyeol shrugs as he props his elbow up and rests his chin on his palm. 

“Meh, I’m not really keen on that…” 

“…they say he can ride you so good he brings heaven to shame,” Sehun sighs. 

Chanyeol cringes, not really appreciative of that kind of rumor about Baekhyun circulating around. 

But he can testify to the truth in that. 

“I heard he’s kinky – he’s so slutty he doesn’t care,” Nayoung sighs, her gaze far off like she’s stuck in a dream. 

Chanyeol’s a bit scared now (as if he hadn’t plowed into the said slutty-boy’s ass like a fucking demolition team all in one big cock). 

“Let’s not talk about that please,” Chanyeol murmurs. 

Sehun raises an eyebrow. 

“Are you feeling protective of him?” 

Chanyeol shrugs. 

“Is it bad if I am?” 

Sehun and Nayoung shares a look before they smirk at Chanyeol. 

“We’re so proud of you cousin,” they say in unison. 

Sehun reaches out and pats his shoulders. 

“Since you successfully got his ass…” 

“This time, you seriously have to get his heart,” Nayoung wiggles her eyebrows. 

Chanyeol bursts out, laughing hard at their silliness. 

  
  
  
  
  


Baekhyun is a storm. 

He is sudden and drastic, moving in so fast Chanyeol could barely keep up, and he fills up his monotonous days with color. The chemistry they had was unbelievable, and even Chanyeol who held this principle to not be attached to someone he met through a one nightstand cannot help but stick to Baekhyun. 

No one has ever been this compatible with him before. 

But even at this point, Chanyeol is still unsure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. 

“Hey Yeol, what the fuck are you doing looking all stupid and shit over there?” 

The taller shakes away from his thoughts, eyes wide as they meet Baekhyun’s judging gaze. He groans when he realizes how he did look pathetic hunched against his locker, thoughts flying away into space like a big loser. 

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol slaps his cheek as he stands up to his full height and Baekhyun had to tilt his head up a bit. 

“Want to share some of the little things going on in that pretty little mind of yours?” Baekhyun wonders with a lilt to his voice, leaning in to press their shoulders together. 

“They’re boring,” Chanyeol chuckles as he turns Baekhyun around by the arms and gently pushes him forward. “Come on, let me walk you to your classroom.” 

“Or better,” Baekhyun lifts his fingers up daintily and touched Chanyeol’s chest lightly, a teasing touch that matched a flirtatious flutter of his eyelashes. 

“Let’s go up to the rooftop.” 

Chanyeol smiles back at him flirtatiously. “What will we do there?” 

“Fun stuff, of course.” 

Baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows obnoxiously, making Chanyeol laugh and nudge his side with an elbow that has the shorter flinching away. 

But Chanyeol is always hyperaware and in no time, he starts noticing the feel of eyes on them. He turns his head and sees people staring intently at them – or more specifically, at his companion. Chanyeol glances at Baekhyun who is still talking chirpily before he lowers his eyes and proceeds to just nod along to what Baekhyun had to say. 

It’s not Baekhyun’s fault – it’s easy to realize that he’s quite popular. Right now, he’s in a black shirt tucked into tight black jeans, his feet are covered with combat boots, his arms are covered with chains, his neck is adorned by a choker and his ears bore silver piercings that hung from his earlobe to the upper part of his ears. Like this, he stands out because he is edgy without being obnoxious and his style really heightens his charms so naturally, this is enough to make people swoon and admire him. 

_It’s like I’m walking with a god on earth, and I feel unworthy._

“I’m gorgeous I know, but it doesn’t mean we can’t hang-out together, Chanyeol.” 

The taller gasps out loud as he covers his mouth. 

“Did I say that out loud?” 

“No shit,” Baekhyun chuckles. “But seriously now, it doesn’t matter to me what other people think. If they hate me, then they can. If they put me on a pedestal, then they can. It doesn’t affect who I want to be with. And just to give you a lift, Chanyeol – you’re everything I want in a friend.” 

“Ouch, I’m friendzoned before even confessing,” Chanyeol fakes disappointment as he clutches his chest in mock heartbreak. 

“Idiot,” Baekhyun chuckles, hitting him with an elbow. 

For the first few periods, Chanyeol hesitantly leaves Baekhyun for awhile to actually attend classes. He suffers through the ordeal, although it wasn’t nearly as bad as he is implying it to be. It’s boring, but Chanyeol manages to be able to actually pay attention and listen to the drawling of the teacher during the times that he isn’t nodding off to drowsiness. 

During lunch, Chanyeol comes up to meet the blonde boy up the rooftop. 

He first hears the beautiful sound of someone softly singing an old romantic tune. Chanyeol carefully walks forward, cautious of who it was until he finally sees Baekhyun sitting on the ground while leaning against the wall. He’s singing while erratically scribbling into a black notebook. He seems really serious about it, with his eyebrows scrunched up together in focus to his craft. 

As quietly as possible, Chanyeol sits next to the blond. He strains his neck, curious about what he is drawing. 

_It’s a cat on fire?_ Chanyeol thinks, eyes wide in horror as he glares at Baekhyun. 

“Do you hate cats?” 

Baekhyun gasps, nearly throwing the notebook feet up in the air as he jumps away from Chanyeol in surprise. 

“It’s not what you think!” he cries, massaging his chest as he cradles the notebook near to his body. 

“You sound like I found you cheating and you’re defending yourself,” Chanyeol jokes, laughing easily as he relaxes against the wall while Baekhyun evidently tries to calm down, weirdly tense and jumpy. 

“It’s nothing,” Baekhyun laughs shakily as he folded his legs up. Like this, he looks smaller than usual and it’s cute. “I just had a weird dream about a cat burning in fire… but it’s not really burning. It’s like the cat is a sun on its own, and it’s _blazing_ on flames.” 

Chanyeol hums, nodding in interest. 

“That’s a rather curious dream,” he comments. “Have you watched anything paranormal or supernatural, perhaps? We all know how that scary shit fucks with our brains.” 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun shrugs. “Could be.” 

There’s just a comfortable silence as the two look up to the sky and simply stare at the clouds, not knowing what to say after that. 

Chanyeol is the one who breaks it and says, “Hey, I didn’t know you can sing well.” 

“You think so?” Baekhyun says and for the first time, he actually seems shy about it. 

“Totally. Like, you can put up a YouTube channel and actually gain fans,” Chanyeol compliments him. 

Baekhyun smiles timidly as he weaves his hands together then slumps his head against Chanyeol’s shoulder. The taller gets a whiff of Baekhyun’s sweet-scented shampoo, finding that really cute that he’s about to mention it when Baekhyun speaks up. 

“What will you do if you grow feelings for the guy whose dad killed his dad?” 

Well that escalated quickly. 

“I hope this isn’t for a friend,” Chanyeol laughs shakily as he straightens up. Baekhyun sits up and gives him a matter-of-factly look. 

“It _is_ for a friend, FYI.” 

Chanyeol stares at him in horror. 

“You cutiepie,” Baekhyun says a while later, grinning as he pinches the taller’s cheek. “It’s fiction, for some shitty fanfiction that she’s writing. She wanted to make her character feel as real as she possibly could, so she decided to ask around and condense the answers to garner the sense of realism.” 

Chanyeol laughs, scratching his nape. “Should have warned me beforehand, I was about to throw hands and worry over the fact that I’m close to some dramatic family crime.” 

_Oh you have no idea, Chanyeol._

Baekhyun brushes off the statement and changes the topic. He sets aside his sketchbook and leans forward. “Hey Chanyeol, wanna hang-out later?” 

“Where?” 

Baekhyun shrugs. “I don’t really know, I haven’t thought of it yet. I just wanted to buy some stuff and maybe eat something, I don’t know.” 

“Is this a date?” 

Much to Chanyeol’s surprise, the blonde boy breaks out into a blush as he laughs. Why is he acting so soft today? The Baekhyun he knows is very straightforward and blatant to the point that the shameless truths that he blurts out never embarrasses him. Or is this actually the real Baekhyun - someone who does get embarrassed like a normal human being but only allows certain people to see it? 

“You can call it like that, if coming along with me to some boring store for some art supplies and eat at some cheap fast food chain can be considered as one,” Baekhyun smiles warmly. 

Chanyeol couldn’t help it. He reaches out and cradles Baekhyun’s face in his, affectionately squeezing his cheeks in between his hands as he hums in delight. 

“What are you doing?” Baekhyun laughs, holding onto his wrists. 

“Nothing, I just find you really cute.” 

Baekhyun smiles as he suddenly tackles Chanyeol to the ground, engaging him into a sweet liplock. 

Right after classes, Chanyeol leaves his room before any of his classmates could and dashes towards the gate, where Baekhyun is already standing. He notices a couple of people glancing in his direction and again, Baekhyun is not the one to blame. By simply existing, people are compelled to give him attention. 

“Hey,” Baekhyun greets when he sees Chanyeol walking towards him, a bit hesitant since a couple of girls were also trying to approach him. Chanyeol feels a bit guilty when the girls seem disappointed before they walk away with gloom surrounding them. 

“Chanyeoool,” Baekhyun whining, pouting as he glances up at the distracted male whose eyes were locked on the girls. “Are you bored of me already? Do you want to be with those girls instead?” 

Chanyeol quickly snaps his head towards him and shakes it erratically, saying, “Sorry, I just feel kind of guilty about them. They were planning on approaching you but it got ruined when I came along.” 

Baekhyun sighs. He suddenly clings to Chanyeol, wrapping his arms around his arm, much to his surprise. He quickly looks up, anxious of the way people were looking at them. 

“You shouldn’t be sorry, they have to know that you’re the only one that I am interested in.” 

Chanyeol chuckles, giving him a dimpled smile. 

“Let’s go, we’ll be late for the bus.” 

It is during that particular “date” that Chanyeol begins finding out more things about Baekhyun. 

“So you live alone but your family mansion is just in town, too?” 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods as they leisurely walk down the pavement, hand in hand while they sip on the shakes that they’ve bought from a stall. “I’ve got siblings and I don’t particularly get along well them plus the mansion is, like, even further away into the countryside so… it’s convenient for me to stay in an apartment near the school.” 

“So you live alone?” Chanyeol whispers suggestively into his ear, his tone low and sultry, and this makes Baekhyun laugh out loud. 

“Idiot, it’s broad daylight. Lewd hours aren’t coming until six,” Baekhyun winks playfully as he pushes open the door of a certain store. 

Chanyeol has never been to a store that completely specializes on selling art supplies. There’s literally stacks of sketch books everywhere, along with boxes of paint tubes, bundles of brushes, pens and pencils, and all sorts of weird contraptions for art, all in huge amounts that he has never seen before. Some even look suspiciously like sex toys, but Chanyeol doesn’t question Baekhyun about it. 

“Incredible,” Chanyeol gasps in awe. “Everything is so cool, Baekhyun.” 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun chuckles as he crouches over a box of paint tubes and starts pulling out different colors. “Amazing to see so much stuff like this - and at a cheap price, at that.” 

Chanyeol walks over to where Baekhyun is and leans against a shelf. He watches Baekhyun carefully pick out paint colors, comparing each one before putting them in one hand. 

“Hey, want me to hold those for you?” Chanyeol offers when he notices that Baekhyun is holding a lot already. 

“Sure, thanks,” Baekhyun smiles as he gives the paint tubes that he had chosen. 

“Soooo…” Chanyeol speaks up, watching Baekhyun move on to brushes. “Want to tell me how you got into art?” 

“Our mansion had dozens of portraits,” Baekhyun says, sifting through the wooden rods. “Most of which were created by my great grandmother. They were beautiful, and I grew up thinking they were cool. When I was around four, I started dabbling with colors and sketching. It slowly grew and here we are.” Baekhyun shrugs. “I am now a frustrated artist who hasn’t been able to complete anything for the past month.” 

Baekhyun flinches when Chanyeol suddenly throws an arm over his shoulder. He then leans in and whispers in his ear, “Why don’t you try and paint me like one of your French girls?” 

Baekhyun bursts out laughing, trying to push Chanyeol away who chuckles and pulls him close then kisses his temple before finally letting him go. 

“You’re embarrassing,” Baekhyun says. 

Chanyeol shrugs. “It was just a suggestion.” 

“A really stupid one.” 

“Hey, that’s not nice,” the taller complains. 

“Whatever,” Baekhyun playfully rolls his eyes. “Anyway, after I pay for this, where do you wanna go?” 

“Aww, it’s turning into an actual date.” 

“Shut up,” Baekhyun hits his arm. “Come on, tell me.” 

Chanyeol hums as he gets deep into thought. “Well, I haven’t been anywhere else than school and home so…” 

“You and your antisocial ass,” Baekhyun snickers. “But it’s okay. Let’s go buy something to eat then we’ll go to my favorite spot.” 

Chanyeol blinks. “Where?” 

“It’s a secret~” 

After paying for his art supplies, Baekhyun leads Chanyeol to a nearby convenience store to buy food. While the smaller boy babbled on about how he loved the new ice cream cake that his town finally had the privilege to serve, Chanyeol’s eyes strayed towards a black convertible parked outside the store. His mind immediately drifts towards the night he first met Baekhyun, remembering how he had a convertible of his own. He is prompted to wonder more about why Baekhyun bothered taking the bus and walk around on foot if he had a car himself but his train of thought is cut off when he takes notice of a girl at the driver’s seat of the convertible staring at him from behind stylish shades. And she is not alone - there are two other girls with her inside the car, all staring at him, too. 

“So I was thinking of actually buying like five of them, but the weather is kinda hot so they might just melt on the way and it’s gonna be so messy-” 

Chanyeol taps his shoulder, saying, “Uh, Baekhyun?” 

The other boy stops talking and looks up at the taller with a questioning gaze. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Um...” Chanyeol tilts his chin in a pointing gesture towards the girls outside, who were still creepily staring at him. “Those girls are staring at me.” 

Baekhyun looks over his shoulder and strains his neck. 

They’re gone. 

Chanyeol’s jaw drops open. 

He just blinked, now they’re gone? 

“What? Where?” Baekhyun asks, his eyes drifting around. “I don’t see any girl, Chanyeol.” 

The tall boy shakes his head, blinking his eyes rapidly. He must have been hallucinating, it had happened quite a few times. It’s an effect of all the stress that he had been feeling during the months after he lost his family. This must have been another one of them. 

“It’s nothing, I must have seen wrong. Nevermind,” he says as he waves his hand dismissively. 

Baekhyun gives him a concerned look, eyes obviously asking for him to talk more about it but he just lets it be by tiptoeing and giving Chanyeol a little peck on the cheek. 

“Let’s go pay for this, I’m excited to go to that place with you.” 

Chanyeol had no idea where they are going. Baekhyun just held his hand and then dragged him away, distracting him with his enthusiastic voice as he babbled away, talking about the randomest things. 

“I really hate social media,” Baekhyun confesses with a sigh. 

“But why?” Chanyeol wonders. 

“People always post my face on there without my consent, and I always get strangers talking up to me even if I want to be alone,” Baekhyun says, which makes Chanyeol chuckle. 

“Wow, a problem only faced by pretty people,” Chanyeol says with sarcasm to his voice that has the other rolling his eyes as he bumps his shoulder against him. “Kidding. But seriously now, if I was in your position, I will most definitely hate it too. I mean, they are ruining your privacy just because you’re pretty.” 

“I am glad I’m in Roselake, not in the big city that you are from,” Baekhyun says wistfully. “It would be even harder for me.” 

“You shouldn’t worry much, I’d be there to keep them away,” Chanyeol winks at him flirtatiously. 

“That’s rich coming from someone as antisocial as you,” Baekhyun sasses at him. “Oh, by the way. We’re here.” 

Chanyeol flinches and looks around in wonder. He had been too preoccupied with Baekhyun, his presence too strong and overwhelming that he had not noticed how they have ventured into the woods and had stopped right in front of a great big lake with enigmatic, murky waters. 

“Whoah,” is all that Chanyeol could say as Baekhyun pulls him towards the shore. 

“This is my favorite spot,” Baekhyun says, smiling up at him with a timidness that had been unprecedented. “I like how quiet it is here. I relish the peace.” 

As someone who wants the peace and quiet as well, Chanyeol can see why Baekhyun loved this place a lot. The eerie vegetation within the woods that led up to the lake that seemed so deep and dark exuded this intimidating feeling that gave way to a silence that offered comfort to the inside of the mind and heart by chasing away any kind of disturbance that may try to ruin everything. 

It’s wonderful. 

“Sit next to me.” 

Baekhyun had plopped down on the grass, and Chanyeol walked over to the spot that he is patting. When the taller is already comfortable, Baekhyun suddenly moves and straddles him, causing Chanyeol to yelp. 

“W-What…?” Chanyeol squeaks as Baekhyun grins down at him, his arms wrapped around his neck. 

“Keep quiet, okay?” Baekhyun says, and Chanyeol doesn’t even get the chance to question or affirm anything because the blond immediately swoops down and consumes him into a heated liplock. 

Their chemistry is scary, the tension is too tangible. The last time they’ve been this intimate was back during that party, and today is the only chance they could do it again. 

The two boys are hot and bothered as they melted against each other’s warmth. Chanyeol has his hands up underneath Baekhyun’s shirt, soothing down the smooth space of skin that his hands can touch as he enjoys the rose petal-like feel of his lips. It’s a bit romantic this time, compared to the animalistic fervor that they had going during their first night together. Chanyeol could feel how much Baekhyun wanted him, to the way he whined and grunted as he got into the kiss to the way he pushed his body close into him like he wanted nothing but to be even closer than he already is with Chanyeol. 

“God, I’d let you fuck me right now if we weren’t out here,” Baekhyun pants, leaning away. Chanyeol gets the pleasure of seeing his pretty face all red and cute, his lips glistening and swollen from Chanyeol’s ministrations and his eyes droopy yet dark with desire. 

“Ugh, don’t let us see debauchery right here when we’re out for manslaughter. How rude.” 

Chanyeol gasps in surprise upon hearing a stranger’s voice. He quickly stands up after Baekhyun pushes himself out of his lap to stand in front of him in a defensive position. 

“Never thought I’d see you here girls,” Baekhyun says with a playful yet menacing lilt to his voice. 

Standing in an arc just a few meters away were three girls that Chanyeol recognized from the convertible in front of the convenience store. They are all still wearing shades, with short black lacy dresses, thigh high boots, black long coats and a strange golden symbol as a pendant that hung on a golden chain around their necks. They all have identical flaming red hair and a black shade adorning their plump lips all turnt up into smug little smirks. 

“W-Who are they?” Chanyeol whispers. 

“The Pride Sisters of House Cassiopeia,” Baekhyun tells him with contempt. “The bane of my existence.” 

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Chanyeol says, caught up in a daze. 

“That doesn’t matter,” Baekhyun hisses as he pushes him back before turning to the girls. “Sisters, go back to the Institution and leave us alone.” 

The girl in the middle who had long wavy red hair with bangs steps forward, taking off her shades to reveal a beautiful face that is almost cherubic in nature, if not for that sinister glint in her eyes. 

“What do mortal youngsters these days say… oh, ‘ _Take a chill pill, Baekhyun’,_ ” she says in a sickly sweet tone yet dripping with mockery. “We were just kidding, we just came to have a little bit of _fun._ We greatly miss you, after all. The Institution is terribly boring without you.” 

“How rude,” Baekhyun laughs, dry of cheer. “You know I like fun more than anyone else, but I don’t appreciate it if it’s disturbing my own.” 

“Don’t worry, you’re gonna love this.” 

“Sister Zhou...” Baekhyun warns. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” 

“No one’s going to get hurt, trust us on this Brother Baekhyun,” the girl Baekhyun called Zhou laughs in such a devilish way that has Chanyeol’s hair standing on end in fright. 

“Don’t you dare!” Baekhyun growls when the three girls lift their hands up at arm’s length, closed with their index, middle finger and thumb pointed outwards as they start mumbling under their breaths. 

_“We call out to the spirits of the damned, abandon the Abyss and rise to our aid. Seek those who offend our pride and haunt them to your rotten’s soul desire. Arise!”_

Their surroundings seem to blur out and darken, with smoke and fog appearing out of nowhere. 

“Fucking bitches,” Baekhyun mumbles. “Chanyeol, just stay back. I’ve got this.” 

“Are they trying to kill us?” Chanyeol worriedly says. 

“Essentially,” Baekhyun replies. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” 

“That we’ll probably die,” Baekhyun retorts. He imitates the same hand position as the girls but he crosses his arms over his chest instead. 

_“Let not this unprovoked curse rattle our peace,”_ Baekhyun recites as he suddenly starts glowing, repeating this sentence over and over again. Strange golden symbols start appearing around Baekhyun, surrounding him like a protective barrier. 

Chanyeol didn’t know what the hell is going on right now, but what he does know is that he and Baekhyun are screwed if they don’t do something about the Pride sisters or the unearthly sounds of groaning resonating from beneath the ground as the earth starts to shake. 

“Baekhyun...” Chanyeol mumbles nervously, reaching out to grasp Baekhyun’s shoulders. “Whatever you are doing… can you do it quick? I-I don’t think-” He lets out an unmanly scream when skeletal arms suddenly emerge out of the soil like some gruesome scene out of a cheesy horror from the 1900s but this time, it is _nothing_ close to being cheesy. 

“What the fuck is that?!” Chanyeol shrieks in horror, shaking the smaller male even more when full-bodied skeletons come after the skeletal arms. “Baekhyun!” 

Chanyeol watches in astonishment when the skeletons seem to stretch their spindly limbs and get a hold of themselves before they all let out ghastly roars that resonate through the woods. 

_“Indulge!”_ Zhou commands, breaking out into evil, ringing laughter along with her sisters as the skeletons move forward. 

“They’re going to kill us!” Chanyeol wails as he pulls at the back of the other boy’s clothes. “Baekhyun, what are you doing?!” 

Whatever he is doing, it is not allowing Baekhyun to respond. In his panic, Chanyeol fails to notice that Baekhyun is actually casting a protective barrier around them, seen through a shimmering golden dome forming around them. When the skeletons closed in on them, Chanyeol moved on his own accord and took it upon himself to do something. 

And so, Chanyeol steps forward and goes _freaky_. 

The Pride sisters stopped laughing, looking on in awe when they see the spectacle. The pathetic mortal boy that had been with Baekhyun had his arms stretched out, angled slightly over his head with his hands spread out. As if on his command, the skeletons began to perish in a beautiful, azure furnace, consuming and burning them into ashes and returning them back to the ground where they came from in a more minced version of their bones. Baekhyun who had been concentrating on his spell momentarily broke concentration and stared on in amazement. 

“It is as we’ve seen in our dreams,” murmurs one of the sisters, Rena. 

“I didn’t think he’d show up earlier,” muses another one, Roa. 

“Let’s go back, we have to tell Mother Kahi about this,” Zhou says. “So she’d know we’ll have to get our hands bloody soon.” 

Disappearing into the shadows among the trees, the Pride sisters left the two boys to suffer on their own and deal with the threat - which the mortal is doing fine on his own. Chanyeol doesn’t stop, not until every single skeleton has burned into ashes. 

Baekhyun comes back to his senses a while later. In a fit of rage at the realization of what just happened, he screams out in frustration as he placed two of his hands on Chanyeol’s chest and shoved him back with as much force as he could. 

“You!” Baekhyun seethes angrily, his eyes narrowed and blurred with rage. “What have you done?!” 

“What did I do? Why are you angry? I saved our lives!” Chanyeol says, genuinely confused, not even worried over the fact that he had showed his freakish nature to Baekhyun. 

“Saved _our_ lives?” Baekhyun laughs cynically as he brushes his fingers through his hair in frustration. “God, you have no idea how fucking screwed _you_ are right now!” 

“Why would you say that?!” 

Baekhyun sighs, calming down yet he still had steam over his head. “Just now, you were able to manipulate the Abysmal Fires, an ability only descendants of House Draco have.” 

“What does that mean?” 

“The last family of House Draco went through agonizing ordeals because the father had done evil things that go against with what our kind exists for,” Baekhyun says. 

“And you might be the only living descendant left.” 

Chanyeol opens his mouth, but he’s speechless. He doesn’t exactly understand everything, but he understands one thing - that there is more to his family than just an accident, and Baekhyun knows all about it. 

“To think that you’re that lost child…” Baekhyun sighs as he rubs his forehead, looking stressed out of his mind. “This is making me crazy. Zhou has realized it, she will come and collect your head soon.” 

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol holds Baekhyun by the arms. “You have to tell me what really happened to my family.” 

“I can’t,” Baekhyun shakes his head. “It is the least of your worries. If you only allowed me to do that spell and not meddled in, it would have been the usual petty witch’s childplay. Now it’s become worse. The coven will come after you soon and they will make sure you’re deader than a dead person six feet under the ground could be.” 

“I’ll _die_?” Chanyeol says in disbelief, but not exactly terrified over the fact that he’s about to lose his life. “I’ll get killed without even knowing what is going on? At least enlighten me before they have my head!” 

“Are you dumb? Of course I won’t let them have you!” Baekhyun hisses. “Do you hear me?” He reaches up and cradles his face in his hands, staring deep into his eyes with a determined glint in his own. “You’re mine. I won’t let them have you.” 

Baekhyun tiptoes and slants his lips over his. But before he could press their lips, he whispers, “Trust me, I’ll protect you with my life.” 

Chanyeol loses all the tension in his body, his muscles relaxing and his energy draining away as he gives in to Baekhyun’s warm, intoxicating lips. 

_Hear me, spirits of the elements, I offer to you my essence. With this, I pray you fortify him and shield his being from those who wish him harm._

And right there, Chanyeol slips into consciousness. 

  
  
  
  


_The next day, Chanyeol forgets about everything that had happened and things go back to normal._

“How are you?” Baekhyun asks when he sees Chanyeol at the locker hall. 

“I’m okay,” Chanyeol grins boyishly as he brushes his hair back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know why I passed out yesterday. Must have been because of fatigue.” And even in that moment, Chanyeol still kind of has this nasty nauseous feeling that he hopes will go away soon. 

Baekhyun tilts his head to the side and gives him a concerned look. “Why, what did you do the night before?” 

“Playing video games,” Chanyeol sheepishly says as he closes the door. 

“Take care of your body,” Baekhyun coos as he reaches up to kiss his cheek then he loops his arm through his as they make their way to their classrooms, weaving through the slowly growing amount of people. 

“Hey, wanna go on another date later?” Baekhyun wonders. 

“Where to?” 

“My apartment,” Baekhyun winks at him. “It’s going to be fun.” 

Fun took shape in the form of Chanyeol sleeping over and binge watching on the Harry Potter movie franchise after eating take-out dinner. 

“I don’t know why, but I really love the movies,” Baekhyun sighs, watching small Harry, Hermione and Ron fight their way through He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named’s mind games even at just a young age. 

“Maybe it’s because it is dark yet not too much. The witches in the school here are so humane and wholesome.” 

Baekhyun’s eyes always held a lot of expression and meaning, Chanyeol noticed that much ever since that one night that they shared, but he doesn’t think much about it this time. 

“You’re unexpectedly really childish, and not in a negative way.” 

Baekhyun raises an eyebrow and smirks, “Childish, you say?” 

Chanyeol grins boyishly as Baekhyun crawled towards him, his oversized, loose clothes cascading down to give him a little tease of his nudity underneath. The taller brings his hands up, settling them on Baekhyun’s full hips as he sits on his lap, smiling down at him with a sensuality so powerful that it blurred out the wholesome movie playing on the DVD in the background and set the whole atmosphere in the room on fire. 

“There won’t be anything childish about what I’ll do to you tonight.” 

Without Chanyeol noticing as he is too distracted by the beauty that was Byun Baekhyun, the DVD turned off and the lights dimmed into a sultry luminescence that made their skin glow with a gentle, amber luster. Clothes fall to the ground and in no time, they’re moving against each other’s bare skins. 

“Fuck me…” Baekhyun breathes as Chanyeol pinned him down to the bed and grinded his throbbing cock against his in a slow, fervid pace. The taller has his lips preoccupied by placing marks all over his jaw, his neck, his chest, everywhere he could, finding delight in hearing every one of Baekhyun’s pleasured little sounds. 

“We’ve got all night and I’m in the mood. Let’s take it _real_ slow,” Chanyeol murmurs in his ear as he flips Baekhyun over and starts playing with him from behind. 

This is nothing like their first night, where everything was animalistic and wild. Tonight, it’s intimate and more passionate. They aren’t just chasing for their highs. This time, they’re basking in each other’s presence, enjoying each other’s touch as much as they could. 

“Feels good?” Chanyeol whispers in Baekhyun’s ear when he lets out a particularly shrill cry the moment Chanyeol slides into him. 

“Always feels good with you,” Baekhyun breathes shakily, pulling Chanyeol closer again and kissing him deeply. 

When they have sex, it started as something just for pleasure. They fuck to fuck out the tension inside their systems. It’s just for their sexual needs \- nothing more, nothing less. But as time passes by and their hearts start to beat at a more parallel pace together, sex becomes more of a means to have each other closer than they possibly could. It’s a way to express their feelings, to show how much they mean to each other. 

Chanyeol lets out moan after moan, loving how Baekhyun sucks him in every time he plunges deep, who brashly moves back to magnify the friction connecting them. Chanyeol’s hips knock roughly into him, really making Baekhyun take every inch of him despite the fact that he’s too big to even be sticking himself up into him. 

But they make it work. 

By the time they are finished, Chanyeol lies on his side with his face buried into Baekhyun’s chest with one arm wrapped around him. His slender fingers play with his hair as he hums in contentment, a tune unfamiliar to Chanyeol. The whole ambience has subsided from steamy to just genuinely intimate as they get caught up in each other’s company under the sheets. 

“Baekhyun…” Chanyeol rasps as he looks up, his long hair hiding his eyes so Baekhyun moves to sweep them out of the way so he can see them. 

“Yeah?” Baekhyun says with a tender smile tugging up at his lips. 

“Family is important, I learned that the hard way,” Chanyeol whispers. 

Baekhyun tilts his head to the side and chuckles, saying, “Where did that come from?” 

Chanyeol sighs as he lies on his back. Baekhyun props himself up with an elbow so he can see his face, hand coming up to soothe the smooth expanse of his chest. 

“You live in this small, dreary apartment when you can be with your family,” Chanyeol says. “I’m not judging you, I am in no position to do so because I still don’t know why you don’t get along with them. I’m just saying that there might be things that you will regret when you lose your family one day.” 

Baekhyun hums as he scoots over and leans his head on top of Chanyeol’s chest, able to hear the steady but slightly increased pace of his heartbeat. “You’re right, I should cherish my family more, try to be more involved with them. I initially just wanted some peace because my siblings are too…” he shrugs, “I don’t know, kind of overwhelming? They distract me from my priorities as the eldest in the family.” 

“You don’t look like you’d be the eldest.” 

“I’m too free-spirited and too much of an asshole, that’s why,” Baekhyun laughs out loud. 

“Those are one of your redeeming qualities,” Chanyeol says, turning his head to the side. 

“Am I supposed to be happy about that?” 

“Well...” Chanyeol brings his hand up and takes Baekhyun’s hand in his. “You’re also cute, gorgeous, witty, talented as fuck… your eyes are so meaningful and they sparkle like stars but they turn into crescents when you smile...” 

“What the fuck, that’s so cheesy!” Baekhyun exclaims in mock aversion, his cheeks dusted with a pretty shade of pink. 

“Do you hate it?” 

“I-I...” Baekhyun clears his throat as he shyly peeks up at Chanyeol. “I like it… You’re the sappiest piece of shit I’ve ever met but you act like a real boyfriend.” 

“Oh,” Chanyeol raises an eyebrow and smiles in amusement. “I’ve been promoted to boyfriend?” 

“Weren’t you always one?” Baekhyun says with a little pout on his lips. 

“To me, you are. I didn’t want to push my luck so I’ve been waiting for you to confirm it,” Chanyeol happily says as he reaches out to pull Baekhyun into a hug, which he easily melts into. 

“Boyfriends~” Chanyeol coos, kissing Baekhyun’s forehead before hugging him close again. 

“Fuck me again, I’m hard,” Baekhyun murmurs, reaching down to touch his cock. 

“Which part of what I said made you hard?!” Chanyeol laughs in astonishment, but Baekhyun just licks his lips and pushes Chanyeol down, grabbing his cock to mount him. 

“Shut up,” Baekhyun groans as he goes down on the shaft, emitting harmonizing sounds of pleasure as they start another round once again. 

As each day passed, Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s relationship developed even more. They get to know each other more, falling deeper and deeper by each passing second of the day. Dating has never been serious for any of them because of their age and how they still have so much more waiting for them in the future - but at this point in time, they offer their youths to one another. 

“Will you come with me later?” Baekhyun says, leaning against the wall with a cigarette between his lips. Chanyeol scrunches his nose when the smoke gets blown into his direction as he opened his mouth to talk. 

“Where?” Chanyeol asks, reaching out to wrap his arms around Baekhyun’s waist and rests his chin on the smooth curve of his neck and shoulder. 

“To this bridge at the edge of town,” Baekhyun answers as he turns his head to the side, bringing one hand up to play with Chanyeol’s hair as he then kisses his temple. “Been awhile since we went out somewhere. We’re taking my car.” 

“Can’t wait,” Chanyeol whispers, kissing his neck before he leans away. 

After classes, the two immediately went on their merry way. Chanyeol gets into the front seat while Baekhyun drives off. 

With a song that he recognizes as something by some band named All Time Low playing from the radio and the cool breeze slapping against his face as the car zoomed across the half-assed asphalted streets of Roselake, Chanyeol enjoys the bliss that it brings to his heart. He closes his eyes, relishing the feeling even more. 

_“Wendy we can get away, I promise if you’re with me say the word and we’ll find a way.”_

Chanyeol opens one eye, smiling as he glances to the side at his boyfriend, who jams at the song, bumping his head to the beat. 

_“I can be your lost boy, your last chance, your ‘everything better’ plan… oh, somewhere in Neverland.”_

Chanyeol straightens up. He suddenly leans in and kisses Baekhyun’s cheek, who doesn’t question it and just glances at him with a cute little eyesmile before quickly turning his gaze back to the road. 

The bridge crosses over a river that leads up to the next town after. When they get there, Baekhyun parks the car at the side and stops the engine. He leans back on his seat and sighs, closing his eyes as he inhales the cool breeze. Chanyeol does the same, but his eyes are trained on his boyfriend. 

“I really like this place,” Baekhyun murmurs, opening one eye to peek at Chanyeol. He catches him staring with those precious brown eyes, so he smiles at him endearingly and turns over his side to look at him properly. 

“I like being alone, so I used to always come here on bike,” he continues on. “I love the breeze and the gentle sound of the river’s currents washing away. But eventually, my siblings would locate me here so I transferred my lair to the woods.” 

“We match so perfectly,” Chanyeol laughs, “We both like being alone. But these days, I’d much rather prefer being alone with you. Is that stupid?” 

“It’s not,” Baekhyun purrs as he swiftly moves and before Chanyeol could realize it, he’s already seated comfortably on his lap. He grins down at him slyly, arms wrapped around his neck as Chanyeol instinctively splays his hands over his wide hips. 

“I’m too desirable, you can’t resist me,” Baekhyun whispers against his ear before he starts trailing kisses over his jaw, leading up to his lips. He kisses him once, just a flutter of his lips over his, before Baekhyun bites Chanyeol’s bottom lip between his teeth, pulling it back sensually then proceeds to roughly make out with him in a heated liplock. 

They are too immersed into each other that they barely even noticed the people who have appeared from the shadows, clad in black cloaks and bearing knives - clearly out for murder. 

Chanyeol’s got his head wrapped around and focused on Baekhyun, hands travelling under his shirt as he busies himself with Baekhyun’s pretty lips. He likes them so much that he’s lost in his own world just enjoying them, so it comes as a shock when Baekhyun suddenly pushes him into his seat and he sits up, thrusting his hands up into fists, arms crossed in front of him. Chanyeol’s eyes are wide when he notices three knives around them in three different directions, stuck in a fatal motion heading towards them. 

“Is interrupting our sexy time your kink, sisters?” Baekhyun muses, grinning mischievously. 

Chanyeol straightens up and sees three figures cloaked in black surrounding them, all stranded in midair. They seem to struggle against a force holding them in its invisible grip, bodies flailing for liberty that their hoods slide off and reveal their identities. 

“Baekhyun… they’re familiar… who are they? What’s going on?” Chanyeol says, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun’s waist as his heart rate increases with both curiosity and terror. 

“Just a couple of bothersome ladies who want to have your severed head,” Baekhyun says as he sharply brings one arm up in front of him while the other makes a whisking gesture, allowing the knives to be thrown to the ground. He then slowly slides back into his seat, holding his arms back up in front of him, hands closed with his index, middle finger and thumb pointed outwards. He stands up, muttering words under his breath as a golden, shimmering dome starts to form around the car. 

“Brother Baekhyun, you do not understand how dangerous it is to keep this mortal alive,” one of the girls tells him. “Mother Kahi has bestowed upon us the responsibility of saving the world from the darkness. If you fight us, this whole thing will escalate.” 

“That’s where you are wrong, Sister Zhou,” Baekhyun grins. “You girls have always taken things literally, no wonder you will never surpass me even when I have suspended my studies for now.” 

“Spite me more and I won’t spare you from the execution,” the girl named Zhou hisses at him with so much venom that it terrifies Chanyeol out of his wits. 

“Baekhyun...” he murmurs, reaching up to the other male. 

“Whatever you do, stay in here,” Baekhyun warns him. “Do not think about doing anything stupid. Do not use your powers.” 

_Do not use my powers…?_

Chanyeol’s eyes grow wide as he gasps and says, “You know about my powers?!” 

Baekhyun just looks at him with a shrug before he sprints out of the car. 

And then, all hell breaks loose. 

Chanyeol’s jaw drops in amazement as Baekhyun moves with precision and stealth against the three girls who have broken away from the invisible force. They attack Baekhyun all at once, three on one, yet they’re obviously having trouble keeping up with him. It’s almost just an incomprehensible blur of black and red, with Baekhyun’s red leather jacket and the girls’ black cloaks along with the knives in their hands and the occasional yellow energy sparking from Baekhyun’s hands. Chanyeol knew Baekhyun was fierce, yet this side of him shows how cruel and ruthless he can be. He was up against girls - armed with knives at that, yet he showed no mercy. Shouts and shrieks resonate from them as Chanyeol sees them inflict injuries on each other - the three girls doing their best to dodge Baekhyun who harnesses the yellow energy and burns their skin with it every time he can make skin contact while he himself is covered with long streaks of red, ugly wounds from the blades of the girls. The amount of violence that the girls were willing to subject him to he was able to give back with equal ferociousness, probably even worst. 

It’s hard to make out the people engaged in the fight, but Chanyeol can discern Baekhyun’s shape within the blur of motion. He makes out Baekhyun twirling around gracefully in spite of the danger that he is in, mostly on defense as the girls swiped their knives at him. Chanyeol grits his teeth, wincing at every slash of blade that finds their way on Baekhyun’s skin. He hates himself for not being able to help him, but he knew that they had bigger chances of getting out of this mess if he just stayed inside the barrier. 

Baekhyun was doing so well putting up with the sisters, but there is always strength and advantage in numbers. While Baekhyun defended himself against their knives, one of the sisters fall back and begins casting a spell behind him. It takes effect by suddenly turning Baekhyun’s limbs into stone, making it impossible for him to move. He snarls when he feels one of the girls cross a knife over his neck, holding him securely in place. 

“Have mercy on yourself,” the one who has him locked in place says as the two other sisters stand in front of him. “Let us deal with the mortal, and you wouldn’t have to die right here.” 

“Over my dead body,” Baekhyun seethes. 

The Pride Sisters look at each other then chuckles, shaking their heads. 

“How admirable,” Zhou coos with a fake smile before she quickly switches to a look of disdain. “Sister Roa, just hold him there.” She turns and looks at Chanyeol, who straightens up and gulps in fear as the two sisters start to walk towards him, their hands out in front of them. 

“We’ll finally execute the residual evil in this world.” 

Chanyeol straightens up, not knowing what to do. Baekhyun explicitly told him not to do anything and especially _not_ to use his powers, but how on earth can he defend himself from two girls who stare at him like apex predators approaching their prey? 

“Sister Rena, let us bring the barrier down,” Zhou says as she slashes her knife for show across the air, the metal glinting evilly. “Then let us do the honors of bloodying our hands for the protection of all witches and people on earth.” 

“Yes, Sister Zhou,” Rena responds, smiling. 

Chanyeol helplessly stares at them, still not knowing what his next course of action will be. Baekhyun is still frozen with knives poised to slash across his neck if he did something. He had risked his life trying to save Chanyeol, so he should do his best to keep himself alive so none of Baekhyun’s efforts will go in vain. 

The two sisters start circling the car, round and round, one after another as they sang a spell with haunting, beautiful voices. 

_“The barrier is falling down… falling down… falling down… The barrier is falling down, let us exact justice no matter how gruesome...”_

They sing this over and over again, their tones going darker and darker at every repeat. Chanyeol feels his throat go dry as the shimmering dome that protected him starts to waver, losing its strength. He glances at Baekhyun helplessly, their eyes meeting with equal desperation. 

And then, Baekhyun nods at him. 

Chanyeol has never used his powers much. Aside from the occasional accidental burning and the intentional practice on lighting candles up, he has never really used his powers to their full extent. It can’t be that hard, right? His life and Baekhyun’s are still at stake here, he needs to just suck it up and go batshit crazy. 

Which he did. 

Exactly when the dome breaks and before the witches could cast another spell, Chanyeol rises and spreads his arms out. He imagines lighting a candle, putting that same technique on to live individuals. 

God, he never imagined he’d be prompted to ever do this. 

Screeches of pure terror and pain resonate from the two witches as blue flames consume them from the feet upward. Chanyeol almost feels sorry for them, until they look at him with pure anger in their eyes, the fire extinguishing as they level their hands up in the air to cast a spell. 

“Oh, shit,” Chanyeol hisses, backing up as he prepares to fight back. 

_“Don’t you dare lay a finger on him or I will not think twice about sending you all to the Abyss!”_

With the witch that had been trapping him in his place now crying on the ground in pain as blood poured out from her eyes, ears and nose, Baekhyun storms towards the two other girls. He looks awful and in terrible shape, but the aura that he exudes is so strong that even Chanyeol wants to cower under his power. 

“Baekhyun, you have gone mad!” Zhou shouts. “We will forgive you if you gave up right now and let us do what we came for in peace. You do not want to have the whole coven against you.” 

“I don’t care,” Baekhyun says as he quickly mumbles a spell under his breath. 

The witches move to counter it, but they fail when Baekhyun gets ahead of them. Just like the fate that has befallen on Roa, Rena and Zhou let out ear-piercing screams as they fall to the ground in pain, blood streaming out from their eyes, noses and ears. 

“Will they die?” Chanyeol whispers, straining his neck to look at the poor girls on the ground. 

“They won’t, I just scared them a bit,” Baekhyun says as he flicks his hands and mumbles another spell. In no time, Baekhyun’s got all three of them on their knees, thick roots from the nearby trees shackling their wrists to the ground. 

“I swear to the stars you will regret taking sides with the son of the Dark One’s herald,” Zhou spits at Baekhyun. “He will come and claim his soul, then use him as the sword to unleash destruction over our kind to avenge for Apollyon’s fall. Strike my words against stone, that will happen in the future if we don’t get rid of the mortal now.” 

Baekhyun gets on one knee and levels himself at the girl. He looks into her cold brown eyes and says, “Sister Zhou, you are a gifted witch. I just can’t say much for your intellectual prowess, though. You don’t think outside of the box, and you’re too much of an avid fan of those lame, traditional prophecies. I will prove you and the coven wrong, that Park Chanyeol is not a soul who will bow before the Dark One. He will only commit to me, and I will turn him into a weapon for when He arrives.” 

“Renegade!” the two other girls screech at him, but Baekhyun just flicks his hands and renders their lips shut, mute from uttering a single word. 

Standing up, Baekhyun steps backward with his arms across his chest and his hands in that three-finger gesture. He closes his eyes and starts muttering, _“I call upon the elements to shelter him from those who wish him harm. Confuse their senses, keep him obscured and let them not find his sanctuary.”_

The three girls lose consciousness. Baekhyun sags over and falls on his knees, breathing shallow and eyes shut. He is exhausted, threatening to fall over his front and he does, but not fully so because he thrusts his hands out and leans on his arms for support. Chanyeol feels his body snap to action and he sprints out of the car towards Baekhyun, gathering him in his arms. 

“Baekhyun!” he gasps, rubbing his boyfriend’s forehead and neck. His heart pounds with worry as he gazes upon his face, the usual pinkish tinge of his skin gone, replaced by a cold pallor instead. He feels like a limp doll in his arms, and along with all the horrible wounds on his flesh, it terribly concerns him. 

“Don’t be so worried,” Baekhyun chuckles weakly as he reaches up and soothes down the furrowed skin between Chanyeol’s eyebrows. 

“But you look deathly pale, and all your injuries! What should I do?!” 

“I’ll be fine,” Baekhyun says, lifting himself up by holding on to Chanyeol’s shoulder to kiss his cheek. “What I need you to do is bring me to your house. I hope Soojung and the twins are home.” 

“W-What does my aunt and my cousins have anything to do with this?” Chanyeol says. 

“The Pride sisters are here to execute you with the explicit orders from the High Priestess of the Roselake Coven,” Baekhyun explains. “Your adoptive parents, your aunt, your cousins… they are all members of House Vulpecula before they were banished from the coven as rogue witches. They still have their magic, and they will know how to protect you.” 

Chanyeol’s face screws into confusion, eyes wild with thoughts. “What are you saying? I’m adopted? What’s a coven? Baekhyun, I don’t understand anything!” 

Baekhyun takes his face in his hands and kisses him on the lips to keep him focused on him. “I’ll explain everything later. Right now, take me to your house. Contact your cousins and aunt, we need them there immediately.” 

“They’re at home, Aunt Soojung just came back from a business trip this morning and the twins wanted to bake her a cake.” 

“Good.” 

Chanyeol carries Baekhyun to the car and fastens him into his seat. Getting into the driver’s seat, he drives away at top speed for the house. There is so many things he wanted to understand, but time is ticking and there is the prospect of him going to literally die if they don’t go through whatever are Baekhyun’s plans. 

“Are you sure they’re home?” Baekhyun says when they pull up in front of the house. He looks better now, his wounds magically close and healed, with only dried up blood staining his clothes as a reminder of the combat that he had at the woods. 

“Yeah, their cars are over there,” Chanyeol says, pointing at Aunt Soojung and the twins’ cars parked at the side of the house. 

“Great, let’s go.” 

The couple gets out of the car with their eyes fixated on the house. Baekhyun’s eyes narrow in suspicion as he tilts his head up, which Chanyeol immediately notices. 

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol wonders as they slowly walk up to the door. 

“I hope I’m wrong,” Baekhyun mutters under his breath, anxiously watching as Chanyeol reaches out for the handle of the door. 

When Chanyeol opens the door, a gust of cold wind blows and suddenly, the most hideous thing appears right in front of him. Chanyeol’s eyes blow wide in fear as he gazes upon the grotesque visage of something akin to the numerous monsters that he has seen in horror movies of the late twenty-first century - eyes bulging with yellow instead of white, irises pitch black, face marred with wounds, deformed horns protruding over his forehead and just fleshy and worn everywhere else. 

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun screams as the _thing_ opens its ugly, bloodied mouth and shrieks in Chanyeol’s face, split tongue wet with green mucus darting past its cracked black lips as it reaches its taloned hands out to him. 

In his fear, Chanyeol reacts by screaming and extending a hand out in his panic. He feels that familiar warmth inside his body as he summons blue flames, burning the shit out of the monstrous thing. It staggers back, crouching over, writhing in pain as it covers its face with its hands. Chanyeol watches in disbelief and horror as it runs through the hallway, not sure if he was really seeing real life right now. 

“Get out of the way,” Baekhyun says, pushing him to the side as he then stretches his arms out with his hands in that three-finger gesture. 

“ _Creature of the Abyss, abide to me,_ ” Baekhyun says, his voice seemingly multiplying into several different layers as he starts exuding a golden aura that has Chanyeol’s eyes widening even more than they already are. He then reaches his hands out to the figure in the hallway, hands slightly quivering and a thin coat of sweat starting to cover his skin. 

“ _Halt!_ ” Baekhyun commands with authority as he extends his hands out. The monster down the hallway stops and suddenly straightens up, levitating a foot in the air as if it had been bound in the grasp of something invisible. With a grunt, Baekhyun then pulls his hands back to his chest, balled into fists. The monster lets out an unearthly wail as it shoots across the hallway towards Baekhyun, sneering at him. Chanyeol falls a step back, gulping in terror. 

“Demon, are you Maestitia?” Baekhyun says through gritted teeth. “I demand you, tell me your name and why you are in the Oh household.” 

“Yes… I am… M-Maestitia, the Harasser and Proliferator of Harrow,” it begrudgingly says. “I answered the orders of the High Priestess,” the monster grins, sharp carnivorous teeth out for display. “I am here to torment the Oh family and particularly come for Park Chanyeol, who I shall tear to shreds.” 

Chanyeol feels the rush of a nasty chill down his spine. 

“Maestitia, you will now abide to me,” Baekhyun repeats, his voice starting to considerably weaken. “I order you back to the Abyss and never come for this household unless you wish t-to p-perish in Abysma…” 

The demon chuckles darkly as it watches with its terrifying gaze how Baekhyun slowly sinks to his knees, his grip on him loosening. 

“Baekhyun, what’s happening?!” Chanyeol shouts out to him. Baekhyun doesn’t answer, stuck at seemingly trying to keep the oxygen circulating inside his body. 

“I expected some more out of this witch. I have heard from my little hourglass prison in the High Priestess’ library how talented you are. But they are mistaken, it seems. You are just another wench,” the demon laughs mockingly as it spreads his arms out, breaking away from Baekhyun’s hold on him. Bringing a leg up, he forcefully kicks Baekhyun away who groans as he lays on the ground with his face screwed in pain. He then faces Chanyeol, smiling at him with a predatory glint in his eyes. 

“With that wretched soul out of the way, I will continue with what I have come for.” 

Chanyeol backs up, gulping the solid apprehension in his throat with his heart racing in trepidation as he lifts his hands up to protect himself. 

_“Maestitia, I banish you back to the Abyss!”_

The demon stops on his tracks and quickly turns around. Chanyeol nearly cries when he sees Sehun down the hallway, hands out towards him with that same three-finger gesture. He looks angry and determined, a sight to behold for someone who doesn’t really take anything seriously. 

“Oh? A rogue witch can do a spell as powerful as this? Why don’t you go and see if your mother and sister haven’t died in their misery yet?” the demon mocks him. 

“Shut the fuck up!” Sehun growls angrily. “I said, I banish you back to the pits of Abyss!” he repeats more forcefully this time. The demon opens his mouth to mock him once more, but he suddenly freezes, eyes wide as a black swirling hole of energy and flames appeared at his feet. The sounds of damned souls echo through the house as numerous ghastly hands reach up and drag the demon down, who screeches as it curses at Sehun in an unknown language. 

Silence washes over the house when the demon finally vanishes into the hellish hole. Sehun slumps against the wall, panting heavily before he looks over to Chanyeol, who is petrified on the same spot as his stare goes back and forth between Sehun and Baekhyun, who is still lying on the floor. 

“Sorry cousin, we didn’t intend for you to ever find out about all this freaky shit,” Sehun apologizes, offering him a small smile. 

Chanyeol just lets out an unintelligible sound, something that seemed like a mix between an ‘okay’ and a ‘help’ before he breaks out of his stunned fright and dashes towards Baekhyun. 

“That was fucking embarrassing,” Baekhyun groans as Chanyeol scoops him up in his arms again. 

“You used to deal with lots of demons at once even without knowing their names,” Sehun says. “What gives, Byun Baekhyun?” 

“The Pride sisters were out for Chanyeol’s blood, they drained me there,” Baekhyun sighs, brushing his blond hair out of his forehead as he leans tiredly against Chanyeol’s shoulder. “Never expected Mother Kahi to pull a petty set-up like this, throwing demons into innocent households. Cheap shot.” 

“Thank you, but we’re not as innocent,” Sehun laughs as he walks over to close the door. “Cousin, do you already know everything about this weird situation that you are in?” 

“All I got are demons and witches and me being some bastard’s son, that’s why they want to kill me,” Chanyeol bitterly says, trying to repress the frustration that he is feeling. 

Sehun sighs as he pats his back. “Go to the living room, let Baekhyun rest. Check up on mom and Nayoung, that demon had afflicted them so they’re probably okay now with that thing gone. I’ll just cast a protective barrier around the house, mom had been too compliant to think that that fucking coven will not do anything to us anymore just because we were excommunicated.” 

Chanyeol had no idea what was going on at all. He felt like an animal suddenly transported out of its habitat and thrusted into some foreign country’s zoo, but he had to brush it all aside first. He will get explanations later, right now he just needs to make sure that everyone is okay. 

“Rest, let everything go for now,” Chanyeol says as he carefully lays Baekhyun on the couch. 

“Can’t, not when there are people out there who wants to kill you,” Baekhyun whispers, his voice raspy, a bit broken. 

Chanyeol doesn’t say anything. He just kisses Baekhyun’s forehead and goes off to find his aunt and Nayoung. 

“Auntie! Nayoung!” he calls out as he first dashes into the kitchen. There, he sees the mess left of baking - flour, eggs, water, icing and even the cake in its final form smashed all spattered over the table. He runs along the sides then finally sees Nayoung and his aunt on the floor, both breathing heavily with eyes closed as they leaned against the side of the oven. 

“Hey, Chanyeol,” Nayoung greets, lifting a hand up casually as if some maniacal demon had not just wrecked their home. 

“Hi sweetie,” Aunt Soojung smiles up at him, although it seems a bit forced. “Are you okay? Did something happen to you? Did the demon get you?” 

“No I’m fine, but you guys…” Chanyeol walks towards them with grim concern spread all over his face, but the women just laugh. 

“Don’t worry, we’re fine too,” Aunt Soojung reassures him with a wave of her hands as she hauls herself up, aided by Nayoung. “Just… that demon’s mind games are too tough to deal with. We slipped out of reality for a moment there.” 

"I'm glad you're okay,” Chanyeol says. “Sehun is downstairs casting spells or whatever and my boyfriend is also in the living room... That demon drained him out." 

"Baekhyun fought the demon?" Nayoung says, eyes wide. “Does he know who released it into the house?” 

“Um…” Chanyeol scratches his head before he points a thumb over his shoulder. “I don’t know… but Sehun wants us all at the living room to talk about this issue.” 

They all gather in the living room with the crackling of the flames in the fireplace breaking through the silence. Chanyeol and his aunt are seated on one couch while the twins are on the couch across it. Baekhyun has eased through his exhaustion, so now he is standing in front of them, arms crossed. 

“Before we start explaining the situation, can you guys enlighten Chanyeol about what had happened to his family?” Baekhyun starts. 

Aunt Soojung sighs as she takes Chanyeol’s hand in hers. They meet gazes, and she offers him a smile. 

“We are all witches. Me, Baekhyun, the twins… even you. We are all part of the Roselake coven which consists of different houses that represent the stars that helped our ancestors battle the darkness. We belong to House Vulpecula, but our family had been excommunicated,” she starts. “We… how do I say this… we have blood ties with the biggest evildoer in witch history. Especially you, Chanyeol. You’re a direct descendant.” 

Chanyeol breathes out shakily, slowly trying to digest the information that his aunt is giving him. 

“Your parents who died… they aren’t your real parents. They are your aunt and uncle who just adopted you.” 

He closes his eyes and nods, his heart sinking at the revelation. 

“Th-Then…” his voice is croaky, and it hurts to talk because his throat is constricting. “Who are my real parents?” 

“On my side of the family, we were three siblings. My sister, who is your adoptive mother, and our eldest brother, whose identity we have hidden from you up until now. Our brother used to be High Priest for the Roselake coven. He was Lord Sungyeol, husband to Lady Youngmi who was the only heir to House Draco. A very excellent witch, but no one knew of the darkness festering inside him until he killed his own wife to summon Apollyon, the Dark One. It was just a good thing that the Council of Houses managed to get to him before he could use you as sacrifice, too.” 

A chill rushes through Chanyeol’s body. He feels his hands go clammy as the realization that he could have been dead along with his real mother at the hands of a bastard sinks in. 

“The Pride Sisters have the power to receive visions from the future,” Baekhyun chimes in. “Their first vision was about the next rising of Apollyon with the aid of his herald, Lord Sungyeol himself, who will use another human sacrifice to rise to power. I think we all know by now how powerful blood of family is.” 

“Then just kill me!” Chanyeol bursts out in agitation. At this point, he is angry at how all of these are happening because of the lone fact that he needs to be dead for the good of all. “Because of me, your lives are at stake. The Pride Sisters are adamant at wanting me dead and would do anything, even hurt anyone who stands in their way. Aunt Soojung, Sehun and Nayoung… you guys will probably get more demonic house visits if you continue protecting me.” 

“Shut up, idiot. You don’t understand anything, so you have no right in deciding whether you die or not,” Nayoung snaps at him, which has Chanyeol dipping his head down. “Baekhyun, tell him your rendition of the prophecy.” 

“The Pride Sisters state that Lord Sungyeol will rise from the depths of the Abyss. He will bring back Apollyon through a human sacrifice, and the suitable one for that is Chanyeol. They want you to dead, but I think that is impractical. I have done my research, even through old forbidden tomes, and I have concluded the fact if you are killed, your spirit might find its way to Lord Sungyeol and he will find means to use your life force for Apollyon.” 

Chanyeol sighs heavily as he brushes his hair out of his face. 

“Then what do I have to do if not die?” 

“I have devised a plan,” Baekhyun says. “I have cast a spell on the Pride Sisters. They won’t find you easily, they will be confused about who you are, especially when they are close. But that won’t be enough. I will have to clean Mother Kahi’s memory about your existence, too. Along with that, I will wipe your memory clean of anything of this ever happening to completely keep you safe. You will forget about the Pride Sisters, of Mother Kahi, of your family being witches and of me. I will go back to the Institution to keep everything in check and that they never find you again.” 

Forget everything? Forget about the truth about his treacherous father, his family’s real identity, the witches, and even Baekhyun himself? 

“No!” Chanyeol growls as he shoots up to his feet. “I can’t allow that! I absolutely do not agree with that!” 

“This is the only solution that we have!” Sehun says, bringing a hand up to Chanyeol’s direction. “We have to trust Baekhyun on this. He is a genius, we can turn the tides over for you.” 

“B-But I can’t just f-forget about him…” Chanyeol says, voice weakening until it’s small and barely heard. “Baekhyun, please? There has got to be another way!” 

“Chanyeol, this isn’t easy for me too,” Baekhyun tries to explain to him calmly as he walks up to him and cradles his cheeks in his hands. Chanyeol purses his lips, feeling so helpless as he clings onto the other male’s wrists. “But we have to protect you. We keep you alive, we keep everyone alive. We need to go through this plan because my other plan requires too much risk and will not be safe for the circumstances right now.” 

“Do I really have to forget you?” Chanyeol murmurs, feeling like a child as he clings onto Baekhyun. It’s too painful, the thought of all those memories and pillowtalks that they’ve shared would just be gone in exchange for the welfare of all. 

He wants to be selfish. 

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun apologizes. 

Chanyeol’s heart cracks into two and rolls to the ground before shattering into thousands of fine pieces across the maroon carpet. 

“If there’s no other way around this, then...” Chanyeol lowers his head and nods. “Do it. Do whatever you must.” 

Baekhyun reaches out and wraps his arms around Chanyeol, who rests his head on his shoulder as he closes his eyes and relishes in the feel of Baekhyun’s cozy warmth one last time. The blond looks over to Aunt Soojung, Nayoung and Sehun, who all have their arms crossed over their chests and three fingers out, hands sparking with orange energy. 

“Everything is going to be okay,” Baekhyun reassures him as he pulls away. “This won’t be the last. Someday, when everything has calmed down, we will see each other again.” 

“I will wait for that, I will wait for you,” Chanyeol proclaims, determined and firm. “No matter what happens, I will find you again.” 

It is inherently difficult for Chanyeol to think about how that might be possible, but he just lets Baekhyun do whatever it needs to be done. He trusts him enough that he can literally surrender his life to him. 

Crazy how they’ve only just known each other for months and he’s like this towards him already. 

“Close your eyes, this will be quick,” Baekhyun whispers. 

Chanyeol does as he is told, with tears starting to well up and stream down his cheeks. 

“I love you Chanyeol, goodbye.” 

He feels his lips on him one last time before Chanyeol loses consciousness. 

  
  
  
  
  


Something doesn’t feel right when Chanyeol wakes up the next morning. 

A throbbing headache attacks his brain, drilling into him like a fucking screwdriver. He cringes, wincing a bit in pain as he bends forward, holding his head in between his hands as he massages his temples with his thumbs. Fortunately, just a few moments later, the pain resides and it disappears. 

He should stop watching anime late at night, especially the weird alien, gore ones from the 90s. 

“Cousin, you look like shit,” Sehun snickers when Chanyeol runs down the stairs and walks over to the table, sitting down between them. “You should stop staying up so late every night.” 

“I think it’s fine, he never goes out anyway,” Nayoung laughs as she pushes a plate of bacon and eggs towards a pouting Chanyeol. 

“What is this, Bully Chanyeol Day?” he grumbles as he stabs his fork into the bacon. 

“You should make some friends or better yet, get a girlfriend,” Aunt Soojung chimes in, ruffling his hair fondly. “You need to get out and be with some people, it’s not nice to just lock yourself up in here.” 

Chanyeol turns to Sehun and pokes him with an elbow. “Hey, introduce me to some people.” 

“Are you sure-” 

“No, never Sehun’s friends,” Aunt Soojung sighs exasperatedly. 

“How about mine?” Nayoung chimes in. 

“You’re no better,” Aunt Soojung clicks her tongue. 

“Stingy,” Nayoung mumbles as she dips her head and stuffs her mouth with egg. 

Chanyeol briskly chomps through the food in his mouth and swallows. He raises a finger up and states, “I don’t need friends much, I’ve survived far at this point through the school year. I’m good with my classmates anyway.” 

“Yeah mom, Chanyeol does not need any friends when he has us already,” Sehun singsongs in a babying voice as he grabs Chanyeol’s shoulders and pulls him in, playfully attempting to kiss him but the older one yells out and pushes him away. 

After breakfast, just like what normal teens do on a daily basis, they go to school. Sehun and Nayoung separates from him because they are brats who are a year lower than him so he is left alone to go through with his classes the whole day. 

Being alone wasn’t anything new to him at all - it happened on a daily basis. He can go through a day without talking to anyone, and he would only open his mouth if it is absolutely necessary. 

But today… why does it feel like there is something missing today? 

Going up to the rooftop where he usually lazed around when he doesn’t feel like attending classes, why does Chanyeol feel like this isn’t normal? Why does he feel like he shouldn’t be alone? Why does he feel like he should be talking to someone, _be_ with someone right now? 

And this goes on for days on end. 

Weeks, even. 

Chanyeol doesn’t talk about it to Nayoung or to Sehun because he feels like this isn’t important. Maybe he’s just imagining things, the boundary between reality and fiction blurring for him because of all the weird anime and movies that he’s been watching. There is totally no basis for this because Chanyeol has never been close to any of his schoolmates yet. His cousins know his state too so it would be weird if he suddenly tells them how he feels awfully lonely despite the fact that he’s never even made friends yet. 

But days later, Chanyeol finally finds out why he’s been feeling this way. 

After bidding his cousins goodbye and heading for the separate direction, Chanyeol suddenly finds himself being tackled into a hug. 

“W-What...” he murmurs, staring down in confusion at the redhaired girl who suddenly hugged him. Chanyeol blinks, flustered out of his mind as he just lifts his arms up in the air and looks around helplessly. 

“Gosh, I missed you!” she cries out as she finally leans away and Chanyeol is able to take a good look at her. The girl is cute, with red hair, round almost cat-like brown eyes, and plump lips covered with a shade of black. She wears a plain black shirt that hugged her body tightly along with a miniskirt and knee-high boots. 

“Umm, w-who are you?” Chanyeol shyly asks, awkwardly holding her shoulders at arm’s length. “I-I’m sorry but I-I don’t remember who you are-” 

The girl tilts her head to the side and pouts cutely. “I’m Yang Rena… your girlfriend? I left school for a month because I went home for my aunt who was admitted at a hospital…” Her eyebrows furrow as she reaches up and gently rubs Chanyeol’s forehead. “Why can’t you remember me? Are you okay?” 

Chanyeol stares at her for a few moments. His brain is starting to get fuzzy, as if his thoughts are being jumbled around, like those ugly moments during hangovers in mornings right after a wild night of drinking. He squints his eyes, Rena’s figure blurring before he regains composure and his mind comes back to settle down. 

That’s right. 

That’s why he’s been feeling kind of down. 

“Rena,” Chanyeol smiles in recognition, to which the girl responds with a smile of her own. “I missed you… wow. How long has it been since we last saw each other?” 

Rena reaches up and cups Chanyeol’s cheeks with her perfectly manicured hands. She caresses his face with her thumbs, staring at him tenderly as she then murmurs, “A really long time,” before she stands on her tiptoes and pulls Chanyeol down, their lips meeting halfway for a kiss. 

To be with someone like Rena is a bit unbelievable for Chanyeol. 

Sure, he remembers meeting Rena on the first day of school. She had friends of her own and she really had no business involving herself with broody boys like him, but she is the only one who bothered talking to Chanyeol. Her pretty and genuine smile is what made him like her, and they immediately hit it off despite the fact that they are total polar opposites. Rena is outgoing and a people person overall, always being surrounded by their peers. Everyone likes her, and it makes Chanyeol feel happy that he has the privilege to be in an intimate relationship with someone like her. 

“It’s been so long since our last date, do you want to go out somewhere after school tomorrow?” Rena says as they walked down the pavement hand-in-hand around a week later after classes. She’s been busy with making it up on schoolwork that she had missed out on each subject, so today was the only time that they really got the chance to get together and spend some alone time with each other. 

“Well,” Chanyeol reaches up to brush the hair on the back of his head. “I don’t know… do you want ice cream? Do you want to go to the ice cream shop?” 

Rena pouts as she tugs at Chanyeol’s hand. “Eh… That’s not romantic at all!” 

“Sorry,” Chanyeol smiles apologetically, finding it weird how he swears he could remember Rena begging him to eat ice cream at the local shop during one of their dates before. “So… where do you have in mind?” 

“One of the restaurants downtown will be fine,” Rena grins happily as she presses her body up against Chanyeol’s side, who just gives her a nod. 

“You know, you really need to get a haircut soon,” Rena says as she reaches up and brushes her fingers through his hair long locks. Chanyeol leans away, trying hard to stop from cringing and just passes it off with a romantic move of kissing the back of her hand. 

“Sappy,” Rena laughs as she pinches his cheek. 

Is it this hard to date a girl? 

It’s alright though, because as weeks pass by, Chanyeol adjusts. He adapts to Rena’s whims and desires, and it wasn’t as hard as it was before. She’s just really a lovely person overall, Chanyeol won’t be letting go of her soon. 

But it still feels weird to be with her. Chanyeol always get this feeling that he shouldn’t be doing this, but he just easily brushes it off. One of these days, he really needs to stop watching too much weird shit. It can really fuck with his mind to the point that he’s starting to feel sensations that are detached from his actual perceptions of reality. 

“You never told us you were dating someone,” Nayoung says. Chanyeol gasps as he closes his laptop and quickly sits up just to see the twins at his doorway, arms crossed over their chest as they looked at him with critical eyes. 

Sehun laughs as he taps his sister’s shoulder and points accusingly at Chanyeol, saying, “He was watching an idol girl anime, what a fucking loser.” 

“You don’t have to be so judgemental right in front of me,” Chanyeol rolls his eyes as he hugs his pillow. “And so what if I have a girlfriend?” 

“Dude, we’re your cousins!” Sehun says. “You have to tell us about stuff like this because this is, like, obligatory.” 

“Don’t make up stuff just to fit your narrative, idiot.” 

“But he’s right,” Nayoung states matter-of-factly. 

Chanyeol rolls his eyes again. 

“It’s just some girl named Yang Rena in my grade.” 

Sehun taps his temple with a finger. “Why, why, _why_ is that name familiar but unfamiliar at the same time?” 

“She’s popular, everyone in my grade knows her,” Chanyeol shrugs. 

“And you managed to snag someone like her,” Nayoung nods, impressed. “You’re something else, cousin. Good job.” 

“Thanks,” Chanyeol says. 

“Introduce us to her next time.” 

  
  
  
  
  


_“I’ve confirmed, he’s the one we’re looking for. What do I do next?”_

_“Just sit tight, you’ve done your part. We’ll do the rest.”_

_“Thank you. I’ll be expecting our success.”_

  
  
  
  
  


“Thanks for dinner,” Rena says while she stands at the top of the doorstep, looking happily at Chanyeol. They had just been from a restaurant downtown just as he had promised, and it had been quite an evening. 

Slightly boring with small talk and just munching through food, but at least Rena was satisfied. 

“No problem, so long as you keep smiling like that,” Chanyeol says with a charming wink. 

Rena laughs as she reaches out. Chanyeol immediately moves closer and levels him down so she can reach him. Arms wrapped around his neck, Rena tiptoes and kisses him. 

She has really nice lips. 

“Goodnight,” Rena whispers when she leans away. 

“Goodnight,” Chanyeol says as he kisses her cheek one last time then leaves. 

It’s a bad idea to walk alone at night. 

Roselake is a relatively small town and anything weird happening can easily spread among the people. Chanyeol didn’t really think about the dangers of getting holdapped for money or anything illegal being done to him. 

And he’s right not to worry about that, because there’s a whole different kind of danger waiting just for him. 

“Park Chanyeol, we order you to halt and hold your peace.” 

He stops on his tracks, eyes wide in confusion as Chanyeol finds himself being surrounded by a couple of men all clad in black, allowing their figures to blend in well with the night and make it hard for Chanyeol to recognize any one of them. 

Stunned, Chanyeol steps back and asks, “W-Who are you?” 

“The Roselake coven judges you guilty of accomplicing future apocalyptic instances, and we are granted the duty to execute you on the spot,” one of the figures says. 

“The conviction with ‘ _accomplicing future appocalyptic instances’_ is kind of obnoxious,” Chanyeol laughs dryly, finding all of this a bit comedic. “Is this legal?” 

“With the orders of our High Priestess, it is.” 

Chanyeol sighs, strangely feeling at ease with the fact that something similar as this had happened to him before. 

He just forgot what and when, exactly. 

“Alright, I surrender,” Chanyeol raises his hands up. He senses a weird surge of something crackling through the atmosphere, and he sees their hands sparking with red energy. 

_Not good._

“But I’m not going down without a fight.” 

All of a sudden, Chanyeol brings his arms sharply down in front of his chest, hands curled into fists. A ring of beautiful blue fire bursts out from within his body, setting the people in black on fire. Their shrieks echo into the night as they try to collect their wits and extinguish the flames, which Chanyeol takes as his cue to run the fuck out of there. 

_What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck,_ is all that Chanyeol could think of as he ran like he’s in the Olympics, his mind having a rough time trying to wrap around the fact that he literally burned people up. 

Jesus Christ. He fucking _burned_ people. Not just candlesticks or cigarettes - real, live, breathing _humans_. They wanted to kill him, yeah, but it still doesn’t change the fact that he murdered them. 

Fuck. What the fuck is happening with the world? 

When he reaches the house, Chanyeol enters and slams the door shut, panting heavily as he leans against it. He is greeted by Nayoung and Sehun gazing at him with questioning gazes in their eyes from the living room, where they have been reviewing their textbooks. 

“Is there something wrong, Chanyeol? What’s up?” Nayoung asks as their cousin rushes towards them with a look on his face that seems to convey the message that he had seen something peculiar. 

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Sehun says, spooked. 

Chanyeol rushes towards his cousins and falls to his knees. He leans against the side of the sofa and curls, knees up against his chest. 

“I think I need to go to a mental hospital,” he says, ruffling his hair out of frustration. “I think I’m going crazy. You guys will think I’m going insane if I tell you what just happened.” 

Nayoung and Sehun exchange a look, nodding at each other before they sink to their knees and crawl over to their cousin, hands coming up to pat his shoulders. 

“Tell us, we won’t laugh,” Nayoung says with no hint of her usual humor. 

Chanyeol looks up, looking at them with a troubled gaze. He gulps, wondering if it truly is okay to tell them how some weird people with glowing hands came up claiming he is committing a crime just by mere existing so he has to die and in retaliation to save his life, Chanyeol burned them up. 

In the end, he confesses. 

“Some people wanted to kill me,” Chanyeol begins, voice low yet surprisingly firm. Nayoung and Sehun exchanged defeated looks, but they don’t say anything and just let their cousin speak. “They claim I’m committing a crime, so they needed to execute me. Who in their right minds would let some strangers kill them? I’ve been going through my days with disoriented thoughts but I’m in the right mind to judge that I can’t just die.” 

“What did you do, then? How did you escape?” Sehun probes. 

“I burned them,” Chanyeol lifts a hand up, and the twins gasp when it suddenly blazes up in an attractive, azure flame. “I don’t know if I killed them off with it.” 

“Fuck, they’ve found out Chanyeol’s identity again,” Nayoung swears as she abruptly stands up. “Sehun, get mom on the phone. We need to send Chanyeol far away from here.” 

“But Baekhyun had a Plan B, didn’t he?” 

“Who is Baekhyun?” Chanyeol asks, but the twins ignore him. 

“Not when Chanyeol probably killed off all those other witches. They won’t give him any mercy. Mother Kahi will issue a kill-at-sight for Chanyeol to every witch in the coven.” 

“What are you guys talking about?” Chanyeol asks. Confusion is his whole mood these past few days. “What witch are you talking about?” 

“You, me, Sehun, mom, the ones who wanted to kill you,” Nayoung snaps her fingers. “We are all witches caught up in a whole civil struggle.” 

“Tell me I’m high right now,” Chanyeol squeaks, trying to shake his head out of the weird hallucination that he is currently in. 

What’s more horrible than the fact that he burned people up is the fact that all of this shit literally don’t even feel surreal. 

Everything feels so natural, like it was bound to happen. 

Chanyeol even has the feeling that all of this has happened to him before, but he can’t remember anything. 

“So you guys are saying I’m a witch, just like all those people who wanted to kill me?” Chanyeol says. 

“Yes,” the twins reply briskly. 

“But, then what? What is the full story? Why do they want to kill me?” 

“It’s because your father-” Sehun blurts out, but Nayoung elbows him in the gut and gives him a look. 

“You don’t need to know for now,” Nayoung says. “What’s more important is to get you somewhere safe, far away from all of them-” 

“Sehun mentioned about my father,” Chanyeol says. “Don’t just say that I don’t need to know. I need explanations. What does this all have to do with dad, and why do they want to kill me?” 

“We can’t talk about that right now, okay?” Nayoung snaps at him. “It’s dangerous for you to know more than you are supposed to know. Encasing you in that clueless bubble is the only thing that is keeping you alive right now.” 

“You can’t just tell me that I shouldn’t know!” Chanyeol exclaims, arms out in front of him. “You don’t know how hard it is to go through life with a mind that has been so addled with weird things that I thought were just because of all the shit that I’ve been watching and it turns out to be bigger than imagination, and you say I can’t have a proper explanation for any of this?!” 

“We are just protecting you,” Sehun calmly says, but Chanyeol is too tired and confounded that he just shoots up to his feet and crashes through the hallways until he’s out of the house. 

“Chanyeol!” Nayoung and Sehun scream as they hurriedly run after their cousin, hearts beating loud in their chest. 

But it was too late. 

Nayoung covers her mouth, stopping a scream from bursting out of her lips when they see Chanyeol being headlocked by a person clad in black just a few meters away from the door. His face is deathly white under the light of the moon, but it wasn’t one that they are familiar of. 

“Let him go!” Sehun shouts as his hands burst into orange sparks, but the person just smiles at them, a haunting smile that etched into their minds before the horror of Chanyeol disappearing in a black smoke with it follows after. 

“No, no, no!” Nayoung screeches, hands through her hair as she falls to her knees. “Sehun! They took him! The coven, they-” 

“That person wasn’t from the coven,” Sehun mumbles, glaring into the night as they see a flock of witches emerge from the darkness up ahead. 

  
  
  
  
  


Chanyeol wants to vomit. 

He had no idea what even happened, along with every other thing that had been happening. One moment Chanyeol was storming out of his aunt’s house and the next moment, he finds himself in the clutches of some shady looking man, his air supply getting cut-off by the pressure of his arm against his throat. 

After hearing his cousins screaming out his name in panic, Chanyeol gets engulfed by black matter. 

And now Chanyeol’s here, on the cold floor of some empty building with his wrists bound together, trying to collect his senses because whatever that shady person did, it got him nauseous and disoriented as fuck. 

“You have been brought up as a pathetic mortal lowlife, but seeing how much you’ve grown made me remember my younger days.” 

Chanyeol lifts his head and he sees a young, unfamiliar, pale man just a few meters away. He is actually wearing quite normal clothing - a black shirt along with jeans and black Converses - and overall, he looks like a pretty normal guy. 

But what makes this person shady is the unnatural shade of red that plague his irises. 

Freaky. 

But Chanyeol isn’t even bothered about this, having the sinking feeling that he has seen worst things even though he can’t remember. 

“Who are you?” he says as he goes onto his knees, wincing as the feeling of ragged concrete digging into skin. “Why did you take me here? Do you want to kill me too?” 

The man bursts out laughing. His voice is boyish and young, yet there is this layer to it that gives Chanyeol’s the chills. “That’s awfully sad. Why would I want to kill you, Park Chanyeol?” 

Chanyeol’s not sure if he’s being cynical or just genuinely wondering. 

_And he even knows my name..._

“Well,” Chanyeol shrugs. “You did choke me and drag me up in here against my will so...” 

“First of all, call me Sungyeol,” The man clicks his fingers then points at Chanyeol, “And yes, you have a point. Although, I do want to ask you to give me the benefit of the doubt first, at least until I tell you my motives.” 

Chanyeol sighs. He didn’t want to stay here any longer and especially with this guy - Sungyeol - who obviously just wants to kill him, but he needs to stall, just until he can figure something out of this. He has the feeling that burning his way out of this situation will probably not work as sufficiently as it had before. 

“I’m all ears then,” Chanyeol shrugs as he relaxes into a sitting position. 

Sungyeol grins, nodding his head as he claps his hand. 

“Okay, great. Let me start by saying that I am actually your father.” 

Chanyeol’s jaw drops. 

“Are you making fun of me?” 

The older male chuckles as he folds his arms behind his back and starts walking back and forth. 

“Ah, I don’t blame you for not believing me… but hear me out. Witches are after you, do you think things aren’t going to get any stranger than that?” 

Chanyeol doesn’t know what to say. 

“I have a point, right?” Sungyeol chuckles again. “Well, the parents that you’ve known all your life are actually your aunt and uncle. Your adoptive mother is siblings with me and your Aunt Soojung. They adopted you after your mom and I died.” 

Chanyeol can only stare at him with a slacked jaw, dumbfounded. 

“You don’t believe me right? I know you’re thinking _‘This guy literally looks younger than me, how could he be my father?’_ and you’re right about that of course,” the man stops walking and towers over Chanyeol. “But, think about it. We’re all witches here. I found a way to bring myself to life and install my soul into another mortal vessel.” 

_Pretty shady,_ Chanyeol thinks as he narrows his eyes. 

“The dead should stay dead. What’s your motive for coming back?” 

The man kneels, face levelled with Chanyeol, who gets a rush of fear when his scarlet red eyes bore deep into his. 

“Revenge.” 

“Revenge…?” 

He smiles, and there is a maniacal, mad glint in those bizarre red eyes. 

“Vengeance needs to be exacted on those who committed sins against me.” 

_“Don’t bother listening to him, Chanyeol.”_

The guy who claims to be his father lets out a grunt when he’s suddenly pulled up a foot above the ground by an invisible force followed by a golden energy that wraps him up like a burrito. He then shoots back, hovering in front of the blond newcomer who pulls him down by the front of the wrap and shoves him down to the ground, stepping on his side with a boot as he crouches over. 

“W-Who…?” Chanyeol mumbles as he furrows his eyebrows and perks up, straining his neck to try and get a better look at the blond. All he’s able to make out is that the guy wore all black as well, he’s got a pendant hanging from a chain around his neck and his petite features are taut from tension. 

“Let me go, you scoundrel!” Sungyeol screams as he struggles against his binding but the blond one just stomps his boot harshly on him. 

“Lord Sungyeol, hello,” the blond smiles. “I never knew I’d have the pleasure to witness your glory in this lifetime. I am very _very_ honored to be in your presence.” 

“You have those eyes,” Sungyeol says through gritted teeth. “I can only assume you are from that damned House Aquila. How did it feel growing up without a patriarchal figure to guide you?” 

The blond growls angrily, stomping hard on the man again, who just laughs at him. 

_This jerk’s a masochist, that boot looks like it can crush a whole skull,_ Chanyeol thinks to himself. 

“Feels shit all thanks to you!” he rages. “You should have stayed there in the Abyss, soul tortured in the Abysmal Fires that you have no right to even be able to control! You’ve done nothing but sow strife within the coven! Your own son is about to die in the hands of the witches because of your crimes, but you don’t care, right? You could have killed him before if my father hadn’t taken him away.” 

“Past is in the past, this is the new me,” Sungyeol smirks. 

The blond extends his arms out, hands blazing with yellow, sparking energy. Chanyeol gapes, unsure whether he should feel scared or be amazed at the spectacle. 

“I’m going to make sure that this time, you don’t go resurrecting yourself and you’ll stay dead for good,” he says through gritted teeth as he brings his hands up over his head, the yellow energy sparking even more intense than before. 

But when he brings his hand down and the yellow energy slams into Sungyeol, everything suddenly bursts into white. 

Chanyeol hastily summons his fire, burning the ropes binding his wrists together. He rolls to his feet then lifts his arms up, protecting himself as the explosion blows everything nearby away. He hears the blond guy land somewhere a few meters away behind him, groaning in pain as his body collides into the concrete. 

Standing up, Chanyeol rushes after the other guy, calling out, “Blondie! Are you okay?” He grabs him by the arms and helps him to his feet, but he pushes him away. 

“It’s Baekhyun to you,” he snaps, wiping away the blood from his cut on one of his eyebrows. Chanyeol can’t seem to take his eyes off him - he’s not sure if it’s because of his really expressive but mysterious eyes, his pretty lips or the annoyed but endearing look on his face. 

Or the bloody cut, maybe. 

“Okay hello Baekhyun and, umm, I’m Chanyeol,” he says, trying not to make it awkward between them. “I have no idea what the fuck is going on, just that this whole deal is about witches wanting to kill me and this crazy dude who is trying so hard to be my dead father.” 

“Hello Chanyeol, you’re right about that at a certain level. That dude is your evil biological father and he wants to kill you. Meanwhile, I’m here to save your life,” Baekhyun says as he lifts a hand that bursts into intense yellow sparks of energy. He clenches it and smirks, adding, “So just stick around here and don’t waste my time by doing something stupid and getting yourself killed, alright?” 

“Alright,” Chanyeol says, nodding, finding it hard to breathe 

_This Baekhyun guy is pretty hot._

“Good boy,” the blond coos before he dashes forward, Chanyeol’s eyes following after him. 

He only stops ogling like a creep when Chanyeol sees what Sungyeol had turned into. 

Jaw falling downward, Chanyeol gapes up in disbelief at the tall, reptile-like creature that Sungyeol has turned into. Baekhyun is aggressively fighting him by throwing yellow energy into its way, inflicting deep cuts into its thick scales. He snarls at him, blood dripping from all of his orifices as he swipes at Baekhyun with its sharp talons and breathes beautiful azure flames into his direction that Baekhyun blocks with yellow energy. Sometimes he gets on Baekhyun, successfully burning his skin and slashing wounds across them, but he just hisses and moves on to make sure he can avenge his injuries. 

If only Chanyeol could help... 

_“Hear me light, hear me air, hear me the stars that bless me, I ask you give me power to encase this evil in sacred light!”_ Baekhyun calls out with fast lips before Sungyeol could grab hold of him. He jumps out of the way in time and rolls to the ground, blocking the strike with a shield of energy as he gestures at Sungyeol with three fingers, summoning a dome of shimmering gold around him. 

Panting heavily, Baekhyun stumbles back up to his feet and walks over to the dome that contained a frantic, mad Sungyeol who flails around within, breathing fire everywhere as he tried to escape. 

Baekhyun spreads his arms out, reciting, _“Hear me light, hear me air, hear me the stars that bless me, I ask you give me dominion over darkness and the power to end its evil.”_

The shimmering golden dome solidifies until its glow diminishes. Symbols that Chanyeol could not understand appears on the dome, shining brightly as Sungyeol writhes, letting out unearthly beastial growls as its scales glow red then starts burning off, revealing the flesh underneath. 

It’s effectively defeating the monstrosity, but Chanyeol notices Baekhyun weakening, having trouble putting up with whatever he is doing. His arms are quivering, and he is slowly starting to sink to his feet. 

Chanyeol cusses under his breath, knowing he’s having trouble. 

And he truly is because Sungyeol suddenly starts writhing too much within the dome, his body thrashing around its walls until one of his arms break past the walls of the dome. Baekhyun gasps, choking as he stumbles, still trying to keep the dome up. 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol screams out in concern as he dashes forward, but out of nowhere, he is stopped by grotesque-looking creatures that looked like a cross between a lizard and a zombie. They grab him by the arms, their sharp claws digging into his skin. Shocked, he looks around, gasping at how many of these ugly things have appeared. 

“Fuck!” Chanyeol shouts, more disgusted than fearful because of the slick, slimy thing that he can feel from their clutch. He summons his fire, engulfing his hands with them. The creatures let out ugly little shrieks as their arms burn off, voices so high-pitched that it hurts Chanyeol’s ears. 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol exclaims as he burns his way through the clump of reptilians, getting to Baekhyun who he sees struggling to hold the dome that is cracking even more with Sungyeol using his arm to widen the hole that he had made while Baekhyun’s other hand harnesses yellow energy and incapacitates them. 

“Can my dad lay eggs?! Are these things my stepsiblings?!” 

“Who fucking knows?!” Baekhyun screams, his voice a bit nasal from his nose bleed. “That fucking psycho will do anything to kill you just to raise his evil overlord and wreak disaster over our kind! Who says he won’t lay eggs just so he can have minions to do his bidding?!” 

“That’s so gross!” Chanyeol wails as he spreads his arms and burns more of the reptilians. “Are you anywhere close to vanquishing him?!” 

“I am currently choking on my own blood, I think we’re screwed!” 

“You were so cool swinging by acting like my knight-in-shining-armor, so you have to do it until the end! Don’t embarrass yourself!” 

“I fucking know, okay?!” Baekhyun groans, who collects his composure, probably strangely motivated by what Chanyeol had said. 

Incinerating stuff off like this makes Chanyeol feel so _alive._ Years of hiding his powers and only allowing himself to use it on candlesticks has accumulated the power within him, and being able to let it all out like this in huge volumes makes him feel lighter, like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders. 

But there’s a limit to everything, and Chanyeol has been using his unexercised and inexperienced powers multiple times today so every time he’s killing off more of the reptilians that just seem to come in waves like in Plants Vs. Zombies, he’s burning himself out more than the reptilians. 

“I’m sorry Baekhyun, it was nice knowing you,” Chanyeol weakly says, crouching over as he exhausts himself by igniting more of the reptilians. 

“Just put up a little bit more, Park,” Baekhyun says through gritted teeth. “Fuck, hold it out a little bit more. The night is about to end.” 

Chanyeol nods and does his best. 

He truly does. 

Baekhyun is doing such a wonderful job at trying to subdue his poor excuse of a biological father, who struggles and howls in pain within the dome as its scales and flesh seem to be eaten by the spreading red scald, slowly burning him up. But that triumph de-escalates when Chanyeol suddenly collapses, losing control of his body from how exhausted he is. 

“Fuck!” Baekhyun swears in desperation, bringing one hand up to create a golden shield to protect them from the bothersome reptilian minions. 

“I’m so sorry, Baekhyun,” Chanyeol whispers. “I’m a loser, I’m lame, I suck.” 

“Shut up,” the blond hisses. 

“Before I die, at least I get to be saved by a really hot guy.” 

“You’re really an idiot,” Baekhyun starts tearing up. “I can’t believe you have forgotten everything about me yet you still hit on me.” 

“Have I slept with you back in the city?” Chanyeol slurs, groggy from weakness. “Why can’t I remember someone as gorgeous as you?” 

“Not in the city,” Baekhyun sniffs sadly. “It was my fault because I thought it would keep you safe.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about anymore.” 

“Then shut up.” 

Sungyeol begins throwing his whole weight against one side of the dome, and Baekhyun had to withdraw his other hand that was putting up the shield in order to reinforce the dome, allowing the reptilians to swarm on Chanyeol. 

“No! Get away from him!” Baekhyun screeches and attempts to deal with the reptilians. 

But suddenly, he feels a familiar buzz of power surging through the air. 

_Oh shit, they’re here._

One moment, Chanyeol feels the ugly, slimy taloned hands of multiple reptilians on him. He just closes his eyes, accepting the fact that he will pass on with the thought of a really hot guy saving him, his dad being an undead reptilian bastard who wants him dead and his probably-stepsiblings killing him with their disgusting mucus-coated hands. 

But as fast at they swarmed on him, as fast as they had also disappeared. When Chanyeol feels the disgusting hands disappear, he opens his eyes to see what was going on, but still not able to move from exhaustion. 

“Don’t you dare touch him!” he hears Baekhyun shriek, but his voice is distant. 

Unknown to him, House Cassiopeia and House Aquila had appeared, causing Baekhyun to suddenly explode with power. He creates a barrier around him and Chanyeol so they wouldn’t get to them while Baekhyun continues to annihilate Sungyeol, his anxiety at what the other witches would do to Chanyeol accelerating his magic. 

“Brother Baekhyun, let us help-” 

“Leave me alone, Yeji!” Baekhyun cries out. “Let me obliterate Lord Sungyeol on my own!” 

This time, a regal-looking red-haired woman with chains of gold adorning her limbs steps forward and says, “Brother Baekhyun, hand us the Evil Priest’s son. It is time to stop your little games.” 

“Don’t you dare touch him, Mother Kahi! I am not afraid of fighting you,” Baekhyun yells as he clenches both fists, the symbols on the dome glowing brightly and enveloping Lord Sungyeol, who shrieks in his animalistic nature before he dissipates into ash and smoke. Baekhyun brings his arms down and the dome disappears with a wink. He then turns to Chanyeol, who gapes in worry at how battered and tired Baekhyun looks yet he still even keeps up the barrier that he had created around them. 

“Baekhyun, my beloved eldest, stop this madness,” a blonde woman who had the same striking features as Baekhyun steps forward. “Turn in the Evil Priest’s son, and let us all bring the peace back in Roselake.” 

“Hear me out,” Baekhyun exclaims, spreading his arms out. “You are all blind to the truth behind the Pride sisters’ prophecy. Executing Park Chanyeol will not bring back peace. I have delayed Lord Sungyeol’s plans by killing his earthly vessel, but he will come back no matter what. He will raise Apollyon from the Abyss through a human sacrifice and he wants Chanyeol. You think if we kill him it will solve anything? It won’t because if we do, Lord Sungyeol will take his soul and use it for Apollyon.” 

“And where did you get this information?” says one of the three girls standing behind the woman Baekhyun called Mother Kahi. “How do you know this?” 

“I am not called a prodigy by the elders for nothing,” Baekhyun boasts, tilting his chin up. “If you don’t listen to me, just know that if our kind gets wiped out and the world reaches the end, it’s all on you.” 

“Are you suggesting that we spare Park Chanyeol’s life? But then what?” Mother Kahi says incredulously. 

“We train him like a proper witch, of course. He needs to learn to properly control the Abysmal Fires. I will be in-charge of him. I will hone him into a war machine capable of bringing down not only Lord Sungyeol but Apollyon himself as well.” 

“But why would you want to help him?” another one of the girls speaks. “His father killed yours.” 

“And my father saved him,” Baekhyun retorts. “I want to honor Dad by not letting his efforts to save Park Chanyeol go in vain, along with the fact that we cannot discern the future and just execute Chanyeol for something that we are not even sure he would do.” 

Chanyeol is starting to lose his grip on reality, but he finally forms an understanding of the whole situation. The parents who has nurtured him and died are not his real ones. They are just his aunt and uncle, and his real ones have also died. Except, his real father, Sungyeol, has found a way back to earth in order to find Chanyeol and use him as a sacrifice. This Baekhyun person who saved him from being a sacrificial lamb is saving him from getting killed because Sungyeol had killed his dad before, and apparently, Sungyeol also wanted to kill Chanyeol way back before so Baekhyun’s dad saved him. Baekhyun wanted to preserve his life as an honor to his father along with everything else. 

Fuck. 

This is tearing him apart. 

With all these witches arguing to keep him alive for reasons here and that, Chanyeol feels like some object only meant to do a purpose. 

All thanks to a really, really, _really_ great father. 

_Thanks a lot, Dad. You fucking dickhead._

And then, he passes out. 

_It also feels like this isn’t the first time that Chanyeol has passed out like this._

  
  
  
  
  
  


The next time Chanyeol wakes up, he’s in a dark room on a small white bed that could barely fit all of his length, allowing only until some inches above his ankle to get on the bed with the rest hanging off uncomfortably. When he moves to his side, he sees Sehun laying on bed, his finger glowing orange as he made a tennis ball levitate in the air, controlling it in different directions while his twin, Nayoung, sat next to him, reading through a book that looks at least a century old while her hand glowed orange. Above the pages there is something that seems to move, and upon straining neck, Chanyeol realizes it’s illustrations moving. 

“I really have gone mad,” Chanyeol says as he sits up. Nayoung looks up to him and Sehun sits up, throwing the ball into Chanyeol’s direction who miraculously catches it despite his grogginess. 

“That would have been better, to be honest,” Nayoung sighs as she puts her book down. “You feeling okay?” 

“Yeah,” Chanyeol nods as he fists the sheets. “Why are we even here?” 

“The witches came after you disappeared and they brought us here with mom, but she was called out right after you got carted in here. She’s still not back.” 

“I don’t know if you can already remember the memories that Baekhyun had concealed in your brain but you know how our family had been excommunicated because of Uncle Sungyeol’s master plans to end the world by bringing Apollyon back, essentially reducing our bloodline into rogue witches?” Sehun asks. “Well they kind of want to have us back and have all three of us trained in this stinking academy.” 

Chanyeol cringes. “All of those are real? We really are witches?” 

“Yep,” Nayoung sighs. “I know, it sucks.” 

“I should have stayed unconscious,” Chanyeol groans as he throws the ball behind him and he grabs a pillow to cover his face with it. 

“I hate this place, makes me feel more restrained than back in the mortal school,” Sehun grumbles as he moves his eyes around the room. 

“So you haven’t been here before?” Chanyeol asks. 

“Nah, we’ve only been home-taught witchcraft by mom since we’re excommunicated and we encounter other witches once in awhile,” Nayoung says. “Like Baekhyun, who has been going to highschool for a year before he disappeared.” 

Sehun huffs, not liking their current situation at all. “Do you guys want to escape?” 

“Forget about doing that.” 

In comes three girls all with similar flaming red hair and black clothes, with one who Chanyeol recognizes immediately. 

“Rena!” Chanyeol exclaims, standing up to his feet. “You’re a witch?!” 

“Silence, you insolent fool,” Rena snaps at him with a look of disgust, so far from the smiley, nice girl that he knows of. 

Chanyeol isn’t really hurt, but it does shut him up in shock. 

“You know her?” Nayoung probes. 

“She’s my girlfriend,” Chanyeol explains. “Well… at least I thought so.” 

“Only because I needed to track down the bastard’s son,” Rena defends herself. “Brother Baekhyun put a powerful confusion spell on you, it took me weeks to pinpoint your identity and even another week to make sure you really are who you are.” 

“Brother Baekhyun has been meddling too much with your memories,” the one in the middle speaks up with a little amused smirk. “I’m surprised your brain hasn’t started malfunctioning.” 

“He didn’t meddle with Chanyeol’s memories, he just suppressed them,” Sehun argues, and this causes Chanyeol to glare at him in suspicion. 

“You helped that Baekhyun person manipulate my memories? What kind of important things have you made me forget?” Chanyeol angrily says, feeling betrayed that his own cousins had anything to with tampering his memories. 

“Probably nothing much, just everything about Brother Baekhyun and your sex life with him,” another one of the girls singsongs teasingly, earning amused laughter from all three of them. 

“What?!” Chanyeol gasps, looking scandalized and flustered at the same time. “What do you mean?!” 

“Anyway, we didn’t come for this,” says the one in the middle, efficiently ignoring Chanyeol. “I am Zhou, these are my sisters Roa and Rena. We are the Pride sisters, daughters of the Roselake coven’s High Priestess, who serve under House Cassiopeia. We are here to remind you about your behavior within the Institution since you all grew up as mortal filth.” 

“So friendly of you,” Nayoung purrs, coming off as suggestive instead of cynical. Chanyeol and Sehun exchanges glances, wondering if it was okay to let her be the chaotic gay that she is. 

Ignoring her, Zhou continues, “The Roselake Institution of Obscure Magic and Cosmic Witchcraft is an educational facility for young witches like us where we can all learn the ways of our mystic ancestors. It is located in the forefront of the Roselake Fortress, the sanctuary for all witches in town. We have maintained hidden from plainsight and from potential threats thanks to all of our students observing proper rules and behavior, and we require that from you, too. _Especially_ you,” she points at Chanyeol. 

“Why me?” Chanyeol says, a bit exasperated. 

“Oh, you’re automatically on probation with limited liberty within the Institution’s walls since you’re…” Zhou makes a face and shrugs. “You know… the Evil Priest’s son. Brother Baekhyun says you’re innocent, but we’d like to be wary.” 

“Great,” Chanyeol sighs. 

“Here are your schedules,” Zhou says, spreading her arms then flicking her hands. Scrolls suddenly appear in the air and fly in front of the three ex-rogues’ faces. Chanyeol grabs his own and reads through it. 

“Why is everything with Baekhyun?” he asks. 

“He is responsible of you,” Zhou says. “He’s just a student, but he’s accelerated and too damn smart for his own good.” 

“He even goes around defying Mother Kahi just because he’s a _prodigy_ ,” Roa says, rolling her eyes. “What a prick.” 

“True,” Rena shrugs. 

“Moving on,” Zhou claps her hands. “Is there any other questions?” 

“Where is mom?” Sehun asks. “We haven’t seen her since last night.” 

“Safe and sound, back in your home,” Zhou says. “While you people, get a move on and change. Classes for you start in an hour.” 

“Crap,” Sehun groans as he shoves the sheets away. “Shouldn’t you have told us earlier that we have classes today?” 

“We’re not obliged to do anything if it doesn’t inconvenience you,” Rena sasses at him, rolling her eyes. 

“Stop complaining and just go,” Roa says, clapping her hands. “Chop, chop, move your asses.” 

Chanyeol never had any reason to rush his way through preparing for mornings, so this was a first. How the three of them managed to squeeze in an hour in showering and preparing is beyond his comprehension, but all that matters is that it worked. 

“Okay, so I have Spellcasting first, Sehun has Darkness Defense and Chanyeol has Witch Lore,” Nayoung says. They are having breakfast down in the dining hall, but there aren’t any students anymore so it just leaves the three of them. “We’re all gonna be losers here today, we weren’t even spared to be together for one subject.” 

“I’m used to it,” Chanyeol shrugs. 

“You have classes with Baekhyun, it makes them more merciful on you,” Sehun whines. “For people who are suspicious, they sure do make your life easy.” 

Chanyeol just shrugs. 

Upon stepping out of the dining hall, they are suddenly engulfed in daylight. The Institution is shaped in what Chanyeol realizes as a pentagram, with the center exposed to the skies, protected by a transparent dome. The rest of the halls somehow resemble the typical school set-up and are hidden in the shadows, ill-dimmed by chandeliers hanging overhead. 

When Sehun and Nayoung separate from him to proceed to their own subjects, Chanyeol feels strangely nostalgic since it’s parallel to how they were before all of this business with the witches. He just sighs heavily, really not liking how things are turning up for them, but walks down his own path to Baekhyun. 

“Took you long enough.” 

Chanyeol is taken aback when he enters the room that he’s been assigned to. He remembers this Baekhyun guy to be this cool, energy-wielding, blond dude who kicked ass, not a cutie drowning in a black hoodie that looks too big on him with round glasses over his droopy soft eyes. 

But he does like this duality. 

“Sorry, the Pride sisters instructed us late about our schedules,” Chanyeol smiles apologetically as he walks over and sits down next to Baekhyun. He sees him close the black book that he had probably scribbling on, placing it along with a pencil to the side. 

“Devils,” Baekhyun groans as he pushes his glasses back, scrunching his nose in the process. Chanyeol also notices how he talks with pouty lips. Cute. “We have a tight schedule, and we need to strictly stick to it. You have lots of catching up to do.” 

“Alright, where do we start?” Chanyeol says, his mood uplifted because he’s got such a cute guy to tutor him. 

Baekhyun reaches out to the old, leathered books stacked right in front of him. He picks one up and slams it in front of them. Chanyeol’s slightly surprised there isn’t a single dust mote that flows in the air from that. 

“We’ll start by learning the origin of everything,” Baekhyun says as he flips open the book. Chanyeol flinches when what seems like a cloud of black smoke bursts out of the pages. 

“Long ago before everything came to be, there was the Holy Darkness, a vast space of nothingness,” Baekhyun begins. “Well not really, because there was one creature that existed within the darkness.” 

Flipping through the next page, the black cloud writhes and moves until red eyes appear. 

“That was Apollyon, the Dark One. He resided in the darkness. It was his home, his abode.” 

Baekhyun flips through the page again, and this time, little diamonds suddenly pop up, spreading across the empty space and filling it up with dim light. 

“One day, the stars suddenly appeared. They shone bright in the dark, giving light to the tenebrosity. This light led to the birth of everything else in the universe.” 

Chanyeol gasps at how the black cloud slowly becomes filled with various colors, with galaxies and planets adding in on the beauty of the stars. 

“This infuriated Apollyon, angry that the Holy Darkness had been perverted. Of course, the stars tried making him join them, but this angers him further and provoked him to finally wage war against them.” 

The stars form into comprehensible figures - animals, mystical creatures, people - and they fight against a hideous-looking reptilian monstrosity with red eyes. 

“Burning in the Abysmal Fires of Draco and the light of Aquila, Apollyon perishes. He weakened, and the stars defeated him in this state. They chopped him into pieces and threw him into his birthplace, the Abyss.” 

The cloud flashes by then shows the view of Earth. It zooms in until it shows a clump of men and women wearing black cloaks with their arms spread out and faces up to the skies. 

“These were the witches who worshipped the stars, our first ancestors, each of whom were blessed by the stars with various gifts. The dark magic that Apollyon initially had was bestowed upon them, which they shall pass on to generations after them in order to arm humanity when the darkness comes back.” 

Chanyeol thought Baekhyun is done, but it turns out he wasn’t when he flips through a page and the cloud moves to show a face with red eyes. A chill runs through Chanyeol’s spine when he realizes that the face resembled… 

“Me?” he murmurs in terror as he watches the person who had his face move towards a sleeping woman, a blade in his hand. 

“That is your father, who used to be High Priest of the Roselake coven, Lord Sungyeol. Apollyon stirred and influenced him without anyone noticing since he was a great High Priest to the coven. It was too late when the witches found out about the corruption within him. He had killed his wife and he was about to kill his own son, too.” 

The scene shifts, and it shows Sungyeol with a crying child. He has a knife poised over the baby’s heart. He raises his arm, attempting to stab it before another man comes in and stops him. He takes the child and runs away, alerting the other witches of what he has done. When the baby’s safe, the man comes to fight Sungyeol. 

Baekhyun moves his head away when the man burns in fire that Sungyeol had blasted towards him. 

Sungyeol doesn’t last long, though. The other witches overpower him and they eventually kill him. They chop him into pieces then throw him into the Abyss, a direct parallel to what happened to Apollyon. 

And then, the cloud dissipates. 

“Well, that’s basically the witch’s lore for now,” Baekhyun says as he closes the book. “Do you want to know anything more? You can ask me further.” 

Chanyeol brushes his chin. “This thing about houses… can you explain it?” 

“The houses are based on which star constellation blessed your family. Some houses have died out, some have lived on, and that’s because of interhouse marriages. The two individuals within the couple contest to see which house is stronger, that’s why some houses died out. For me, I am from House Aquila, the Eagle. We are blessed with strong affinity for magic and the ability to effectively fight off the darkness,” Baekhyun explains. “You are in House Draco, the Dragon. Your house has been blessed with the ability to control the Abysmal Fires and your house led the first defeat on Apollyon which is pretty brilliant for the Dark One. Your father was married to your mother who was the one from House Draco.” 

“W-Wait,” Chanyeol lifts a hand. “Which house was my biological father from?” 

“He was from House Vulpecula, the Fox, blessed with cunningness and high aptitude for Influential Magic, just like your cousins, your Aunt Soojung and your adoptive mom. The coven excommunicated your father’s side of the family just because they are directly related to him.” 

Chanyeol nods. “Interesting. My family’s got everything fucked up in the witch world, huh.” 

“Only your father, don’t give everyone the credit,” Baekhyun chuckles. 

“Then how was he able to breathe fire out like that if mom was the one from House Draco?” 

“Apollyon,” Baekhyun shrugs, the Dark One’s name a sufficient explanation. 

“Should have expected it,” Chanyeol chuckles. 

“Anything else you want to know?” 

“I’m sick of hearing stuff about my father, to be honest. That damn bastard doesn’t deserve all this clout,” Chanyeol says as he folds an arm over the table and lays his head down, looking at Baekhyun who has his eyes on another book that he had taken from the stack. He smiles to himself, pleased at how his eyes are so well-fed with his cute visuals. 

“Then what do you want to hear?” Baekhyun says, his eyes shifting to gaze at Chanyeol. 

There’s a weird tension that forms in between them, spreading out into the atmosphere that surrounds them. It crackles and sparks, like electricity buzzing out of a live wire. Chanyeol doesn’t know if Baekhyun feels it but he sure as hell does and it’s suffocating - but he chooses to ignore it and act like nothing is wrong. 

“Why don’t you tell me what was between us before you repressed my memories?” Chanyeol boldly says. 

Baekhyun releases a heavy sigh, carding his fingers through his blond hair as he looks away. Chanyeol isn’t sure if he is seeing this correctly, but he can see a tinge of red dusting his cheeks. 

“It isn’t that important,” he murmurs, but he sounds a bit uncertain. 

Chanyeol makes a face and says, “That’s not what I heard from the Pride sisters.” 

The redness on his cheeks become more vivid (there’s no doubting that anymore) and Baekhyun groans in annoyance. 

“Look, that’s not the point why you’re here. Your life's on the line, the higher ups are only allowing you to keep on living because they understand that we can mold you into someone that you should never be in the future-” 

Chanyeol suddenly sits up and leans forward, face just a few centimeters away from Baekhyun who freezes, eyes wide at the proximity. The electricity between buzzes even more but instead of suffocating him, this time, Chanyeol feels the electricity try to gravitate him closer towards the other boy. 

But he musters every fiber of his self-control in order to stop himself from giving in to his body’s whims. 

Gripping the edge of the table, Chanyeol lowers his voice and mutters, “Is that any reason to stop me from trying to remember what we had before?” 

Baekhyun gulps, lips parting and his tongue gently swiping across his bottom lip as he shifts his gaze up at Chanyeol’s eyes and downwards to his lips, seemingly confused out of his mind at the moment. 

“I-I’m sorry,” Baekhyun whispers. “I can’t forcefully give you back your memories. My specialty is strong, indestructible spells, it’s no different with how I repressed your memories. It can only come back slowly…” 

Chanyeol hums, staring a bit more at Baekhyun before he breaks away. 

“I won’t bother you about it then,” Chanyeol finally concludes. It relieves Baekhyun, who lets out a fresh breath as he kneads his chest. “We will just go through with whatever I need to learn. But…” 

Chanyeol moves to touch Baekhyun’s hand with a finger, gently drawing circles over the flesh. He sees the blond gulp, goosebumps breaking out of his skin at the touch. Their skin contact makes Chanyeol feel a chill too, but he ignores it. 

“When I remember everything, I hope you’re prepared.” 

There’s a rigid silence that befalls upon them for a few moments before Baekhyun shatters it by clearing his throat. 

“I guess Witch Lore is finished,” Baekhyun announces, voice still a bit shaky. “Let’s move on to Basic Spellcasting. Do you have an inkling on how to spellcast?” 

Chanyeol shrugs. “I only set things on fire.” 

“Jeez, your cousins were taught witchcraft, why weren’t you?” Baekhyun groans, slowly relaxing again. He leans back, reaching into his jean pocket then takes out a pen. He places it on the table and gestures a hand towards it. 

“Try to make that move. Do whatever you have to do. Telekinesis is one of the basic abilities a witch can do.” 

“Even if it embarrasses me?” 

Baekhyun shrugs. “You do you, I’ll just laugh.” 

Chanyeol chuckles, hiding the fact that he’s actually quite anxious and lifts a hand. He narrows his eyes, concentrating on the pen. 

_Fucking float, don’t embarrass me by letting me force too much effort and ultimately make me look constipated._

Seconds pass yet he feels nothing really happening. Chanyeol’s ready to give up and complain to Baekhyun but he’s taken aback when instead of the pen, all the books on the table suddenly levitate mid-air before noisily falling back down, making the two of them flinch. 

“Was that supposed to happen?” Chanyeol says, a bit freaked out, looking over to Baekhyun who nods, impressed. 

“That’s a good sign,” Baekhyun says. “Although we do have to work on that magic redirection. Congrats, you really are a witch.” 

“Why aren’t men called wizards?” Chanyeol wonders out of the blue. 

Baekhyun shrugs. “Because it sounds stupid and the coven is egalitarian. It’s only cute in the Harry Potter franchise.” 

“Ooohhh, we be living in the year 3019,” Chanyeol hoots. 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, but he does spare him a small smile. “Okay, whatever. Look over here and read along while I try to explain to you as simple as I could the basic principles in spellcasting.” 

For the next two hours, Chanyeol struggles through everything, mostly motivated by Baekhyun telling him that his skills are that of a toddler’s and he should do better. Chanyeol has always been the type to be competitive when his ego is on the line, and with a cute guy overlooking his progress, his abilities determination is stretched out. 

By the end of the lesson, Chanyeol’s able to utilize the Witch’s Threefold \- a three-fingered sign with the hand curled up except index finger, middle finger and thumb - and successfully cast an exploding spell on a ball. 

“You’re great at offense,” Baekhyun nods, satisfied with his progress. “As expected from an ascendant of House Draco. Good job.” 

Chanyeol feels shy all of a sudden, smiling up at Baekhyun like a kid who had been praised for answering a question in class correctly. 

He wants to impress Baekhyun even more. 

By the time the morning session ends and lunch comes, Chanyeol sags over his chair from being burned out of his magic, still too inexperienced in exercising his abilities and Baekhyun had to drag him to the dining hall - a whole privilege that makes him feel like a fucking king. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Nayoung asks, worried when he sees Chanyeol leaning on the smaller witch, looking out of his wits. 

“Tired,” Baekhyun grunts as he makes Chanyeol sit on a bench. “I made him do spells and he was pretty good at it.” 

“He looks like a miserable eggplant,” Sehun snickers amused at seeing his cousin like this. 

Chanyeol’s eyes are closed and he’s feeling a bit frail, but his ears aren’t just big and elfish for show. He hears Sehun loud and clear, and in response, he lifts his middle finger up at him. 

“Oh, he’s half-dead but he’s still got spunk!” Nayoung laughs, but it dies down when someone suddenly sits next to her. He’s clad in black as well, and he’s barely a meter away from Nayoung’s face. 

“Umm, hey?” she asks uncertainly, but the person only stares at her with round, owl-like eyes and heart-shaped lips formed in an ‘o’, coming off as a bit creepy so she glances at Sehun for help. Her twin clears his throat and attempts to tell off the weird guy but he speaks out first. 

“This is wicked!” the owl-eyed guy exclaims, straightening up and pumping his fists. “I never imagined I’d be able to see another one of the ascendants from Vulpecula!” He shifts his eyes towards Chanyeol, who's being force fed by Baekhyun who hasn’t even noticed everything that was happening since he’s too engrossed in his job. 

“And it’s the son of the Evil Priest himself, not to mention the only remaining ascendant of House Draco!” the owl-eyes exclaims loudly that it finally catches Baekhyun’s attention. 

“Brother Kyungsoo,” Baekhyun smiles, pushing the utensils to Chanyeol who had been enjoying being taken cared of until now. “What’s up-” 

“Brother Baekhyun, can I talk to him?!” the guy Baekhyun called Kyungsoo points at Chanyeol, who still looks out of it as he fiddles with his food using the fork. “Hey! Lord Sungyeol’s son! What’s your-” 

Kyungsoo’s mouth is suddenly muffled by a hand, pulling him back to lean against another guy who had appeared to sit next to him. 

“Sorry, Kyungsoo’s a total nerd,” says the guy, smiling alluringly at them. Nayoung and Sehun have their jaws slacked while Chanyeol struggles to focus on him because he may be feeble but he will not pass up on the opportunity to witness such a beauty. 

The guy had beautiful sunkissed skin, drowsy yet intense eyes and sharp features. He takes off the hand that he had used to cover Kyungsoo’s mouth, revealing a pout as he turns to glare at the other guy. 

“Jongin!” Kyungsoo whines. “I was just being _friendly_!” 

“You were literally freaking them out,” Jongin laughs, ruffling his hair. He turns to the twins and Chanyeol who are still gaping at him then at Baekhyun, to whom he dips head down apologetically and says, “Really sorry for this guy’s behavior again, Brother Baek.” 

“It’s okay, he didn’t do anything too strange,” Baekhyun laughs. 

Jongin turns to the others. “Kyungsoo’s kinda weird, but he’s cute and nice. I’m Jongin, by the way. I’m from House Corvus. Kyungsoo here is from House Orion.” 

“I’m Nayoung,” she introduces herself. “This is my twin Sehun and that’s my cousin, Chanyeol.” 

“Ooohhh, the dream team everyone’s been talking about,” Jongin chuckles. 

“Are you kidding? Everyone’s probably visualizing us burning in a cauldron filled with witch oil,” Sehun says. 

“The rest of us could only wish to be as relevant as you,” Jongin says. “Life has been boring for us meanwhile you people got into pretty bad business with the coven. Especially Brother Baekhyun!” 

“Shut up,” the blond groans. 

“No wonder you were gone for a whole year! You went on to look for Sungyeol’s son and eventually succeed in recruiting him to our side? Not to mention the fact that you even sent Sungyeol himself back to the Abyss all the while protecting his kid from the other witches! Fucking badass, man!” 

“I’d like to marry Brother Baekhyun someday,” Kyungsoo blurts out, nodding. “I want to make powerful witches with his genes.” 

Jongin sharply turns to Kyungsoo and pouts. “No, you can’t do that.” 

“Why?” 

“I’m your boyfriend!” 

“So?” 

“You’re going to end up with me!” 

“Stick with Jongin, Kyungsoo. Baekhyun is meant for Chanyeol. Both of them attract trouble, they are soulmates,” Sehun chimes in. 

“I don’t understand why I’m even sitting with you people,” Baekhyun says disdainfully. 

Chanyeol leans in and whispers, “You know, he’s right.” 

Baekhyun flinches away from Chanyeol and glares at him. “Please shut up and eat your food, I need you recovered in an hour. We have Inanimate Enchantment and Potion Brewing next.” 

“Brother Chanyeol, Brother Chanyeol, Brother Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo calls out, leaning over the table. “I heard you nearly got killed by the Pride sisters!” 

“Why do you sound so happy about that?” Chanyeol asks, bemused. 

“Those three are fascinating to watch,” Kyungsoo sighs dreamily, his eyes far off in a distance. 

“I don’t know if they did because some of my memories have been suppressed thanks to these three here,” Chanyeol says, shooting Baekhyun and the twins a pointed look. “But Rena was my girlfriend for a little while.” 

Kyungsoo gasps. “No way!” 

“Brother Kyungsoo, it’s the dining hall, not the marketplace,” Zhou reprimands as she and her sisters, with their lunch trays, conveniently pass by while they are the topic of the discussion. 

Chanyeol looks up and he meets eyes with Rena, who just rolls her eyes and follows her sisters away. 

“Rena, wait!” Chanyeol calls out. The Pride sisters halt and look over their shoulders towards him. 

“What do you want?” Rena snaps. 

Chanyeol can feel everyone else staring at him in complete confusion, but he ignores them and says, “Can I talk to you?” 

Rena takes another moment before she sighs and clicks her fingers. Her lunch tray levitates when she lets go of it. “Sisters, please go ahead. Take my lunch tray with me. I’ll have a talk with Brother Chanyeol.” 

“Look at Brother Baekhyun, he’s murdering you in his head,” Zhou cackles in amusement as Baekhyun purses his lips and clenches his fists. 

“That’s so cute,” Roa comments with a little hearty chuckle. 

Rena flips her hair and smiles. She closes in on Chanyeol and places a hand on his chest, saying, “Don’t worry Brother Baekhyun, I’ll give him back to you later.” She winks at the blond teasingly. 

“As if I care,” Baekhyun retorts as he looks away. “I just don’t want you to waste my time by setting him back on schedule.” 

“Don’t worry,” Chanyeol reaches out and taps Baekhyun’s clenched fist on the table, thumb drawing circles on the back of his hand. “It will be quick.” 

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything, but there is a telltale blush across his cheeks as he nods, head dipped. 

Chanyeol leads Rena out of the dining hall and towards a corner in the hallway with barely anyone passing by. 

“Okay,” Rena crosses her arms. “What do you want?” 

Chanyeol slides his hands into his pocket and bluntly says, “Help me get my memories back.” 

There’s a moment of silence before Rena guffaws, slowly breaking out into a teethy laugh as she ducks her head and cups her mouth. 

“You have to be kidding me.” 

“I’m serious,” Chanyeol says, and he truly is. If Baekhyun can’t give him back his memories, then might as well have one of the Pride sisters help him. 

“You and your sisters are daughters of the High Priestess, right? You guys are _the_ shit, you’re powerful.” 

Rena sighs as she leans back and straightens up. “Look, Chanyeol. Baekhyun is a prodigy. He specializes on indestructible spells that have close to no counterspells at all, although your case isn’t that helpless. Your memories will gradually come back, I believe you’ve talked to him about this before you came to me and he told you the same thing.” 

Chanyeol breathes heavily as he runs his fingers through his hair. “I know, but I’m frustrated here. I really want to know everything that I’ve been doing with him.” 

“Well, just know that we tried to kill you two times during your dates at the woods and near the bridge and you two were always near to stripping your clothes off every time,” Rena shrugs, as if their attempt murders were no biggie. 

“I get that we had a sexual relationship, great, but I want to know more. You know… do you get me?” 

Rena rolls her eyes again, and it makes Chanyeol genuinely worry about her eyeballs. “You sound like those mortal teenage girls I see on television. So into that romance and love shit.” 

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow. “You watch mortal television?” 

Rena shrugs. “Sometimes it gets boring, you know? I mean, 21st century technology isn’t just for mortals.” 

“Touché,” Chanyeol clicks his fingers. “But really now…” He pouts, looking like a giant puppy as he flashes puppy eyes up at the Pride sister, hoping she’d give in. “Is there really no other way for you to help me?” 

Rena closes her eyes and shakes her head with a finality. 

“No, Chanyeol. There just really isn’t.” 

Chanyeol’s shoulders sag in disappointment as he runs his fingers through his hair. “Okay then… thanks a lot for your time, Rena. Let’s go back to the dining hall?” 

He turns on his heels to head straight back for the dining hall, digging his hands into his pockets. 

“Wait.” 

Chanyeol stops on his tracks at Rena’s sudden call. He tilts his body around to face her, asking, “Yeah?” 

“You know… I think I have an idea.” 

Rena grins at him slyly, eyes sparkling, filled with mischief and danger - and Chanyeol has the gut feeling not to trust her at all. 

But Chanyeol’s too naive about how cunning the Pride sisters can be, and he’s too desperate to accelerate the pace of her memories that he has no to choice but to listen to what Rena has to say. 

“Listen, closely while I tell you what I’ve got in mind,” she says, smirking. 

After around ten minutes, Chanyeol and Rena walks back into the dining hall, both looking satisfied and mildly excited. They exchange nods before separating to each of their appropriate tables. 

“What’s up with you guys?” Sehun quickly asks, eyes narrowed in suspicion about their intentions. 

“It’s nothing,” Chanyeol says as he looks at Baekhyun, whose lips are pursed into a straight line, clearly annoyed because he doesn’t even acknowledge his presence and just continues with his food. 

“Are you mad?” Chanyeol decides to ask. 

“Why would I be mad?!” Baekhyun exclaims with a little jolt as he huffs and looks away. 

“You seem mad…” Chanyeol murmurs, but he catches Jongin shaking his head, mouthing, _Don’t push it_ , _brother_. 

That afternoon, Baekhyun is colder than he had ever been towards him, something Chanyeol could not even believe was possible. But as what Jongin advised him, he doesn’t push it and just went through Baekhyun’s lessons without anymore comments other than for pure educational purposes. 

But it’s okay. 

Things will change soon. 

  
  
  
  
  


It all happens two days later. 

_Is this even alright?_

_Of course it is, it will be fun!_

_Those boys will thank us later, to be honest._

_But do we really need to… you know…_

_It’s fine, trust me._

_Charity work is awesome._

Chanyeol doesn’t really know what will happen other than Rena and her sisters will send Baekhyun a letter with Chanyeol’s name on it, asking him to come out and meet him at the Dead Garden, a patch of greenery just outside of the school filled with flowers that are poisonous when ingested, usually used for potions. He’s not sure if that will even entice Baekhyun out to meet him, but Rena told him to trust her and her sisters so he has to rely on her for that. 

It’s around twelve midnight when Baekhyun finally shows up, drowning in a black oversized silken shirt and trousers this time, looking like he just rolled out of bed with his blonde hair sticking up in all directions. 

_Fucking adorable._

“I just woke up,” Baekhyun says, yawning as he paws at his cheek like a little kitten. “Why did you call me out? Is there something wrong?” 

“Um…” Chanyeol doesn’t really know what to say, so he looks around, in search for the Pride sisters because he honestly doesn’t know what to do other than just appear here. 

“Leave it all to me,” was what Rena said. 

_Crap, was she just messing with me?_

“I know,” Baekhyun suddenly says, lifting a finger. “You want to talk to me about your memories again, am I right?” 

Chanyeol freezes for a moment, lost at what he should say. Does he deny? Does he change the subject? 

_Crap, just stick to that._

With a nod, he says, “Yeah. Like… I know I told you I won’t bother you anymore about this but I don’t want to be left in the dark. I need to know more about what kind of relationship we had before.” 

“We were boyfriends,” Baekhyun says, almost too quickly. 

Chanyeol hums, stopping a wide grin from crossing his face, “Boyfriends, huh…” 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods. But he suddenly takes a double take, looking confused as he cries out, “Hey, why am I telling you this?!” 

Chanyeol probes further, “When and where did we meet?” 

“Summer, at this underground party. We fucked and then you left. We met again in school,” Baekhyun says before he cups his mouth, gasping at what he just said. 

Grinning, Chanyeol takes a step closer, impressed with whatever the Pride sisters did to make the blond spit out the truth. Baekhyun gulps, staring up at him anxiously but he doesn’t move an inch, even when there’s only a few inches left before their bodies can touch. 

“Were we a serious thing?” 

“We were,” Baekhyun whispers, eyes moving downwards. “I-I was so serious about you that I’d do everything to keep you safe, even if it meant my own end.” 

An ache punctures Chanyeol’s heart at what he said. The puncture creates a crack, an opening big enough to let Chanyeol feel so many things - some of which he doesn’t even know where they came from, but he figures these might be emotions attached to all the memories. 

“Why did you suppress my memories?” 

“To protect you from the coven because everyone wanted you dead.” 

“Is it true that you don’t know how to bring them back?” 

“They’ll gradually come back, especially if we do things that we used to do. It will trigger the m-memories… crap…” Baekhyun groans, covering his face to stop Chanyeol from seeing the terrible blush on his cheeks. 

“If we do things that we used to do…” Chanyeol mumbles. “Like what?” 

Baekhyun purses his lips, cheeks puffing as he tries to stop the truth from jumping out of his lips. Chanyeol sees him struggle, feeling so sorry about doing something cruel as this, and he almost tells Baekhyun to just forget about it but he gets to him first and confesses. 

“L-Like kissing a-and hugging… f-fucking too…” Baekhyun mumbles, very red in the face as he shrinks into himself out of embarrassment, mortified at the things that he is talking about. 

“That’s interesting,” Chanyeol says, satisfied. “With the method you suggested, will you be willing to help me? Do you want things between us to go back to normal?” 

Baekhyun dips his head, fumbling with his shirt as he seems to think about it deeply instead of trying to stop himself from saying anything. 

“I-I don’t know…” Baekhyun says. “I-I want to be with you b-but I can’t be a distraction… You need to focus on your duties as the one who can save everything from falling to Apollyon’s wrath.” 

It hurts. 

Chanyeol is doing this because he wants to bring how things were back when he could still remember everything, hoping that he would mean to Baekhyun other than just someone who has a purpose to accomplish for the good of all. 

But Chanyeol is no saint. He can do what is right but he can’t just sacrifice everything just for the sole sake of it because he is selfish, just like every normal human being not blinded by faith. 

“You know… making me remember won’t hurt anyone.” 

Baekhyun rubs his arms uncomfortably. “But still…” 

“At least one kiss?” Chanyeol begs, taking Baekhyun’s hands in his and kissing his dainty fingers. The blond doesn’t pull his hands away, only carefully eyeing the way Chanyeol holds them in his with a forlorn look. They feel cold in his, so Chanyeol rubs them gently until they’re warm. 

“Please, Baekhyun?” Chanyeol whispers. He’s a bit desperate now, knowing he will never have another chance like this. “I won’t ask for more than this.” 

Chanyeol’s not sure if it’s because of what the Pride sisters had done to Baekhyun, but he seems all too willing to let Chanyeol kiss him - taking a step closer towards the taller as he tilts his head up and exposes his lips for chastising, not showing any signs of struggling to dissuade himself. 

Is it possible that the Pride sisters enchanted him with something that forces him to spill out the truth in not just words but also in his actions, as well? 

“Kiss me, then.” 

Just as Baekhyun had said, when Chanyeol cupped his cheeks and brought his lips to Baekhyun’s in a sweet liplock, something seems to break inside his mind and leak out. He gasps, a surge of something warm and so familiar shoots through his body as strange scenes and images flow through his mind, making him clutch on to Baekhyun tighter for support. 

_Leather and fishnets on pale skin spread out on a white bed._

_Cigarette smoke and a beautiful singing voice on a rooftop._

_Blood and daggers in a blurred fight between four people._

“How dare you disturb my peace with your foolish, licentious acts?!” 

Chanyeol opens his eyes, peering over Baekhyun’s shoulder. A scream rips out of his throat when he sees a hideous looking woman in white stand a few meters behind Baekhyun, scowling at him. Her face was sliced up into a pentagram, blood and flesh leaking out from the cracked areas, and even more blood dripped down from a gaping wound on her chest, staining her glowing white robes. 

“What-” Baekhyun asks as he tries to look past his shoulder over to what had freaked Chanyeol out, but he doesn’t get to see the apparition because adrenaline suddenly overruns Chanyeol’s system and he hurriedly picks Baekhyun up bridal style and dashes out of that place and back into the Institution. 

“Put me down!” Baekhyun says in a hushed yell so as not to disturb other people’s sleep, slapping Chanyeol’s chest as he rushes down the hallway. “Chanyeol! What happened?!” 

After making a turn, Chanyeol finally puts Baekhyun down, panting heavily as the effort of what he has done takes a toll on his body. 

“T-There was a ghost!” he gasps, taking a deep breath the same time as he speaks. “B-Bloodied… W-White...” 

“Of course, dammit… It was the Dead Garden,” Baekhyun groans, rubbing his face. “The home of the Red Witch.” 

“Ghosts exist? They’re real?” Chanyeol breathes, rubbing his chest to calm his poor heart. 

“Phantoms, as we call it,” Baekhyun corrects him. “No one really knows what her backstory is, just that she appeared out of nowhere couple of years back and resided there since then.” 

Chanyeol swallows the dread in his throat and gently pushes Baekhyun to the wall, leaning against him with his forehead on his shoulder. He suddenly feels all the excitement and rush in his body leak out, leaving him tired and drained. 

“I was so scared, what the hell… at least you were there.” 

Baekhyun doesn’t say anything, and Chanyeol’s afraid that he might push him away but instead, the blond wraps his arms around him and pats his back in comfort. 

“I’ll always be on your side, you can count on me.” 

Chanyeol knows it’s more than just that ghost moment a while back. He doesn’t have most of his memories back, but remembering how fierce he was at trying to save him from his murderous dad and from what the things that he has heard from the Pride sisters, Baekhyun has done so much for him. 

“Can I count on you to let me see you in fishnets again?” 

Chanyeol whines when he receives a playful little smack to the head. 

“Keep on dreaming, Chanyeol.” 

  
  
  
  
  


When Chanyeol arrives at the room where he and Baekhyun holds classes the next morning with bread in his mouth and a cup of orange juice in the other because the damned twins did not wake him up early in time for breakfast, he sees Baekhyun up against the wall next to the room's door, looking so done as five younger blonde girls crowded in front of him. 

"Why didn't you tell us that you have come back?! It's been a month!" 

“How have you been? We miss you at home!” 

“Brother Kyoong, have you recovered? I saw how strained you were back when you defeated Sungyeol.” 

“Really?! He really did that, Sister Yeji?!” 

“Yes! It was cool!” 

“Why didn’t you tell us you defeated the Evil Priest himself?!” 

“Awesome! Brother Kyoong, you’re the best!” 

Chanyeol just stands there, amused as he stares at Baekhyun who seems shy and doesn’t know what to say in the midst of the girls (who Chanyeol guesses are his siblings) fawning over him. It takes him around a minute or two before Baekhyun looks up and notices him. 

“Okay sisters,” Baekhyun says, holding out his hands. “Chanyeol is here, time for classes-” 

They all collectively gasp as they turn towards Chanyeol, eyes wide. He just stands there awkwardly, lifting a hand up to wave at them. 

“No way! It’s the Evil Priest’s son!” 

“Brother Kyoong! Introduce us!” 

Baekhyun sighs, smiling apologetically at Chanyeol. 

“Chanyeol, meet my sisters - Yeji, Jisu, Ryujin, Chaeryeong and Yuna. They’re actually my half-siblings because Mom remarried…” Baekhyun says as he gestures towards each of his sisters. “And yeah… umm… girls, this is Chanyeol.” 

Thankfully, they don’t approach Chanyeol. They simply smile up at him and wave their hands enthusiastically, just curious rather than nosy so that’s a good thing. 

“Okay, you girls seriously need to go,” Baekhyun announces, clapping his hands together. “You’ll be late for your next class, don’t be complacent just because you have this free hour. Time is not something you should take for granted.” 

“Your Brother Kyoong is very serious, isn’t he?” Chanyeol chimes in, to which Baekhyun responds with a glare. “So I guess you should listen to him.” 

“Then we’ll go!” Yeji says. They all tiptoe and each take turns giving Baekhyun a kiss on the cheek. 

When they’re finally gone, Baekhyun breathes out and ruffles his hair. 

“Having siblings is stressful, especially when you are the eldest,” Baekhyun grumbles. 

“They’re lovely girls,” Chanyeol nods. “You’re lucky you have siblings who love you. When I lost my parents, I felt a bit sad that they didn’t give me a younger sibling to at least ease my loneliness.” 

Baekhyun dips his head, seemingly remorseful for a moment before he just shrugs and says, “Shall we… umm… proceed with the lessons for today?” 

“Of course, Brother Kyoong.” 

Baekhyun groans in exasperation. “Stop, you can’t call me that.” 

Chanyeol’s lips tug up at the ends in a little smile. “Why? That’s actually cute.” 

“It’s weird,” Baekhyun complains. “I’ve never heard them call me that nickname in a year…” 

Chanyeol suddenly brings a finger up and boops Baekhyun’s endearing, button nose. He’s startled by it, but he visibly relaxes when Chanyeol grins at him. 

“I’ll call you Kyoong from now on.” 

Baekhyun laughs as he shakes his head, saying, “Please no.” 

“Kyoong,” Chanyeol says, making his voice sound cute and nasal as he boops his nose again, but Baekhyun manages to catch his hand and he squeezes his fingers, causing Chanyeol to cry out in pain, asking him to stop. 

“Sorry to disturb you lovebirds,” the Pride sisters suddenly appear, making Baekhyun push Chanyeol away, blushing. They all give them little sneaky smirks, mortifying Baekhyun with their knowing attention. 

“Mother Kahi wants to have a word with Chanyeol,” Rena speaks, tilting her head towards the taller witch. 

“What for?” Baekhyun asks, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. 

“Nothing serious, rest assured,” Zhou says. “Just some reminders for the Evil Priest’s son to follow. You don’t have to be so wary about it.” 

“Well, I’ll be back then,” Chanyeol says, all smiley as he boldly takes Baekhyun’s hand, squeezing it in his then lets go, slightly surprised that Baekhyun didn’t flick him away or something. 

_Good job, Chanyeol,_ he pats himself on the back. _This is progress._

“See you in a bit, Kyoong,” Chanyeol says, waving at Baekhyun before he turns to follow the girls. 

“ _See you in a bit, Kyoong_ ,” Rena mocks as the two others chuckle. “You’re one hell of a man, Park Chanyeol. You’ve got yourself wounding through Baekhyun’s heart now.” 

“Well it’s thanks to you girls,” Chanyeol says. “What did you even do?” 

“Just a really simple but very lethal spell,” Roa says. “The Honesty Spell. Forces the victim to speak and do nothing but the truth.” 

“Fucking awesome,” Chanyeol says as he spreads his arms out. “I can’t offer you anything but a hug, so come and get it.” 

“No thanks,” Rena says in a not so polite manner as she shoves Chanyeol away, who just laughs and proceeds to spill out fond things about them. 

The High Priestess’ office is found in a room that intersects the Institution and the fortress, so it takes them a while before they get there. 

“Listen, lover boy,” Zhou says, pushing Chanyeol by the shoulder in order to face her. “You are to be very honest and truthful with Mother Kahi. With one word, she can have your head. Prove yourself worthy of being in this coven. We trust you.” 

Chanyeol tilts his head to the side and sighs dramatically “You girls really love me, don’t you?” 

The Pride sisters all collectively rolls their eyes and groan as they turn their backs to him and walk away, leaving him alone. 

“Love you, sisters!” Chanyeol yells out, still smiling even when they don’t even respond as they make a turn down the hallway. 

Clapping his hands together, Chanyeol takes a deep breath then exhales, relieving himself from the hints of apprehension taking over his body. He moves around like an idiot, shaking his limbs around then faces the maroon door, knocking before he pushes it open and proceeds inside. 

“Ah, Brother Chanyeol.” 

Amidst the shelves inlaid with books and all sorts of artifacts, Chanyeol vaguely remembers the lady behind the desk from the night when Lord Sungyeol attempted to get to him, arriving later with other witches who wanted to kill him. She has the same red hair as the Pride sisters, framing a lovely face. She is dressed in an elegant black gown, her arms adorned with golden jewelry. An air of regality and sophistication envelopes her, slightly intimidating the daylights out of Chanyeol. 

_Slightly? Who the fuck am I kidding, I’m close to peeing my pants here._

“Y-Yes, hello…” Chanyeol stammers, anxious out of his mind. “W-What’s up?” 

“Why don’t you take a seat, child,” Mother Kahi says, gesturing to one of the two seats placed in front of her desk. Chanyeol nods and takes a seat, his head dipped down as he modestly peeks up at the lady from under his lashes. He watches as she pushes her seat back and she reaches somewhere underneath her desk for what turns out to be a wine bottle… 

…and something entirely else. 

Chanyeol gasps when Mother Kahi suddenly flicks her hand and makes a knife dart towards him. Out of instinct, he moves to avoid it but much to his horror, something keeps him frozen on his seat. He wants to scream in terror, but he couldn’t move - not even a finger or a toe. 

Not able to do anything, Chanyeol leans back into his seat and grips on the armchairs, suddenly just hoping it all to end quickly. 

“If it was up to me, you’d be easily dead right now,” Mother Kahi says, her elegant voice all cold and stiff as she relaxes back into her chair. 

Chanyeol opens his eyes, feeling control over his limbs come back. He sees the knife poised right in front of him, the tip of the blade aimed at his throat. Relief surging through him, Chanyeol looks at Mother Kahi and watches as she calmly reaches for a wine glass perched on her desk. She waves her hand, making the knife fall on Chanyeol’s lap. 

“I’ve sent a demon after you, my daughters and more of the witches but you survived. Baekhyun must really have so much faith in you.” 

Chanyeol is speechless, he didn’t know what to say at all. Her direct attitude and straightforward approach is a bit too much for him to deal with. 

“Baekhyun is a special one, just the best in the coven right now even at such a young age,” Mother Kahi says. “He is fierce and he has always wanted nothing but what is good for the coven. At first, I thought he was just blinded with infatuation since he is also just a teenager despite his capability. I thought he just wanted to play with you more, that’s why he fought my daughters and kept you alive. But when Baekhyun continuously fought against us to keep you alive, I knew he was serious and that I should step in.” 

Mother Kahi sighs as she takes a sip, letting out a gasp of satisfaction. She notices the way Chanyeol eyes her drink so she chuckles and asks, “Want some as well?” 

“I am a minor,” Chanyeol replies. 

“No fun, but that is the correct answer,” Mother Kahi says, nodding in approval as she reaches for the bottle and pours more into her glass. 

“Right now, all I want is for you to do your part,” she continues. “Train hard, listen to what he wants you to do. If it is as Baekhyun says, you have to really work hard. What you encountered out there when the Evil Priest wanted to get a hold of you, that was nothing. And yet, Baekhyun still had a hard time getting rid of him. Imagine what it would be like if it is the real thing.” 

“I can’t possibly surpass Baekhyun,” Chanyeol murmurs. 

“Well…” Mother Kahi shrugs. “It’s either that or darkness comes back to rule over the universe. Remember this, Chanyeol. It’s all on you.” 

_All on me._

Chanyeol groans as he leans against the door when he leaves Mother Kahi’s office. He brings a hand up to his forehead and kneads it gently, stimulating his thought process since he’s too bamboozled from his encounter with the High Priestess. 

It is still so hard to comprehend. Chanyeol is just an average teenager with a complicated family history and the ability to throw fireballs, he just cannot see himself be the hero that will save the day. It’s just too much for him to carry the weight of the universe’s fate on his shoulders. 

“Are you okay?” 

Chanyeol wants to cry in relief when he sees just the face that he needed right now. Baekhyun had conveniently appeared, looking really concerned as he stands in front of him. 

“Hey,” Baekhyun calls out when Chanyeol just stares at him blankly. He reaches up and tugs his chin up. “Talk to me. What did she do to you?” 

Like a little kid, Chanyeol wraps his arms around Baekhyun’s body and buries his face into the crook of his neck. Baekhyun stills, a bit surprised at the suddenness of his actions but he eventually relaxes and hugs him back. 

“Baekhyun, I’m not like you,” Chanyeol murmurs, pouting as he lets Baekhyun’s fruity scent relax him. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Mother Kahi told me that in order to defeat Sungyeol, I have to be better than you,” Chanyeol huffs. “But how? I’m light years close to being anywhere near to your level. It’s honestly tearing me apart. I can’t do this.” 

“Shhh,” Baekhyun shushes him, weaving his fingers through his hair, stimulating soothing tingles down the taller’s spine. “You are a natural. You will definitely be better than me. Look, you have never cast any spells before but you were so good even at your first try. It’s too perfect that I believe you’re just really born to defeat your father.” 

Chanyeol leans slightly away to look at Baekhyun’s face. He juts his bottom lip out and says, “You really think so?” 

Baekhyun breaks out into a rectangular smile as he reaches up and ruffles his hair fondly. 

“I really do think so.” 

After Chanyeol feels better, he releases Baekhyun from his embrace, who suddenly grabs his hand and leads him down the hallway. 

“W-Where are you taking me?” Chanyeol asks, hastening his pace when Baekhyun starts running. “Isn’t the room the other way?” 

“To the Celestial Space,” Baekhyun moves his eyebrows up and down, playful. “Seniors are holding a duel, I thought you’d like to see that.” 

“For real?!” Chanyeol smiles, mouth slightly ajar in a awe. “Will you be participating?” 

Baekhyun shakes his head. “The elders have banned me from joining in those.” 

“I don’t blame them, you’re probably too overqualified.” 

“You could say that,” Baekhyun winks at him as they made a turn. 

The Celestial Space turns out to be the name of the circular center of the Institution which was exposed to the skies. Chanyeol and Baekhyun stood against the railings on the second floor, overlooking the clumps of secondary level students surrounding the raised circular platform in the middle. There stood one of the Pride sisters, Roa, looking excited and eager while she is faced off with an unfamiliar jittery boy. 

“Alright, silence!” a boy, whom Chanyeol recognizes as Institution Council leader Zhang Yixing of House Leo, loudly speaks over the crowd in a booming voice that was probably magnified by a spell. “You guys know the rules. In order to win, you have to push your opponent off the platform. No telekinesis, Affliction Magic and Influential Magic. Do not inflict injuries on your opponent. You can do whatever to push your opponent off the platform. Contestants, are we clear?” 

Roa nods in affirmation, and so does the boy. 

“Alright then,” Yixing lifts his hands up. “We shall start!” 

Everyone roars out, and even Baekhyun claps his hands. 

“Witches, at ready!” 

Roa elegantly moves into position, her hands outstretched into the witch’s threefold towards her opponent. Her opponent on the other hand is too apprehensive, making the students chuckle as he awkwardly does the same position as Roa. 

“If only Brother Jaehwan can be less unsure about himself,” Baekhyun murmurs as he turns to his side to look at Chanyeol. 

“Why?” the taller witch wonders. 

“That kid has mad skills,” Baekhyun says, shaking his head to show how impressed he is. “He’s heights better than Sister Roa but she’s more confident and headstrong during duels so she is more efficient. Brother Jaehwan needs to collect himself and not let his nerves get to him.” 

Chanyeol hums, now understanding the situation a bit with his insight. 

“I wonder what would go through your mind if I was there.” 

“I guess… feel tense as well? You can’t really use the Abysmal Fire because it can injure but you’ll do well since I taught you,” Baekhyun shrugs. “You know I’d be rooting for you so bad.” 

“Cute,” Chanyeol mumbles, looking away as he purses his lips because he couldn’t exactly kiss Baekhyun. 

Yixing glances at Roa and Jaehwan, both eyeing each other with fire and challenge. Then, with one sharp movement, he brings his hands down and announces, “Begin!” 

Roa quickly goes on offense, mumbling a spell under her breath. Beneath her feet grew a spot of ice that branched out and quickly headed towards Jaehwan, who had little time to counter it. He lets out a surprised yelp when a long, pointed icicle struck out from the ground towards him, making him stumble a meter back in fright. Roa smirks in triumph as she moves forward fast, continuing to make the ice branch towards Jaehwan and threaten to impale him with icicles from the ground. 

“Fight back!” Baekhyun yells out, gritting his teeth. “That’s some basic shit, he knows better than this! Counter!” 

Jaehwan lifts his hands up to the air, fast mumbling under his breath. Just when he is only a meter from falling off the edge, Roa stops her ice, gasping as she takes a step back when the ground between them opened up into a black swirling hole of energy and flame. Sounds of otherwordly shrieks and wails echo into the hall, making everyone break out into a frenzied panic when they realize that shit is going down, _down_. 

“Everyone, scramble!” Yixing roars as he seizes Jaehwan by the back of his collar while Rena and Zhou scream at Roa to get off the platform. But before Roa could jump off, something with wings shoot out of the portal, the rush of air making Roa fall over her feet. 

“Brother Jaehwan fucking summoned a demon, dammit!” Baekhyun swears as he climbs on the rails. “How dumb can someone be? Fuck, it was just measly ice!” 

“What are you gonna do?!” Chanyeol shouts at him. Baekhyun gets cut off from answering when a beastly laugh echoes over them, coming from a creature hovering in the air. It is bat-like in nature, with an ugly batty face, pointed ears, huge leather wings, taloned hands and a hairy body swathed in rags. 

“I have not seen witches since the fifteenth century!” the demon cackles as it spreads its arms, finding amusement in seeing everyone below him scramble in fear. “What century are we? Are there still mortals hunting for your poor little witchy asses?!” 

Chains suddenly appeared and bound his body, thanks to Zhou and Rena. The demon growls when the chains start to glow orange, burning into its skin. It struggles, flailing around in the air with the Pride sisters having trouble trying to secure him. 

“Any help will be very much appreciated, you imbeciles!” Zhou screams angrily at the other witches in the other room, who are all busy either panicking or running away. 

“Yixing, you coward!” Rena yells. “Where are you?!” 

“Give me a minute!” Yixing shouts from the other side of the hall as he pushes the students out. “Minseok, Jongdae! Help them! I’ll handle this!” 

Two other council members, Minseok from House Circinus and Jongdae from House Pyxis, move to respond to the situation, running towards Rena and Zhou to help with the chains. 

“I’m going to help stall him!” Baekhyun hisses at Chanyeol. “You, I want you to look for my demonology book and then look for this demon’s name.” 

“Can’t I just burn him?! They don’t like Abysmal Fire right? He’s in chains anyway!” 

“No, we won’t be able to do that. We can only destroy its essence with Abysmal Fire _and_ this really complicated spell that will take really experienced witches which we don’t have the honor to have right now,” Baekhyun explains. 

“Why can’t you guys just ask it’s name?! I can remember you do that before!” 

Baekhyun shakes his head. “I already knew who Maestitia was. This time, it’s different. I can remember that fucking thing being categorized as immensely strong. Plus, it has fucking wings, Chanyeol!” He reaches out and grips his shoulder. “So please, do as I say. I think that demon is related to fear. The book is in my room, hurry!” 

Baekhyun shoves Chanyeol away then hops off the railing. His land was slowed down, so he smoothly lands upright on his feet. Chanyeol sees him bring his hands up, shouting a spell that creates a golden barrier around the area, blocking the entrances. He then slashes a hand in the air, creating an ugly, glowing gash on to the demon’s wings, who hisses as he struggles against the chains and turns his attention on him. 

Knowing Baekhyun will be able to handle this, Chanyeol does what is asked of him and runs down the hallway. He can vaguely remember Baekhyun mentioning that he shares a room with Kyungsoo and Jongin, so he goes straight down the hallway that led to the classrooms. 

When he gets there, Chanyeol feels a strange, dreary atmosphere looming through the walls. He slows down, alert yet confused at the same time as he inches towards the nearest classroom. He reaches for the doorknob and twists it open, flinching in astonishment when he sees everyone inside curled up on the floor. With careful steps, he steps into the room. No one even notices him, all occupied with their poor condition - shivering while they fidgeted on their spot as if they were in pain, hands holding their heads. 

“Fear...” Chanyeol murmurs in realization. Even though they’ve got the demon contained in the Celestial Space, its influence cannot be inhibited. Baekhyun’s protective barrier could only hold it physically in place. 

_Crap, he needs to do this fast._

“Kyungsoo?! Jongin?! Are you here?!” Chanyeol calls out, rushing down aisles to search for them. He even kneels down multiple times to look at the witches one by one, which wasn’t a problem because they never seem to be in their proper senses to think that he was weird for doing this. 

Finally, after a while, Chanyeol locates Kyungsoo at the corner, curled up and muttering “Jongin… please… where are you… Jongin… come back...” 

Chanyeol grabs Kyungsoo by the shoulders, trying to shake him back to his wits. “Kyungsoo! It’s me, Chanyeol! Get a hold of yourself, I need your help!” 

Chanyeol wastes a few more minutes of yelling at Kyungsoo, who just closes his eyes and cries as he keeps on mumbling incomprehensible stuff. He cusses, frustrated that he doesn’t know much about witchcraft to maybe get into his head and try to ease him out of whatever he was seeing in his mind. 

“Or...” Chanyeol whispers as he looks down at his hands. “Maybe not...” 

Concentrating deeply, Chanyeol grabs Kyungsoo’s wrist. He takes extra careful measures in controlling the Abysmal Fire out of his body, only letting a bit of the heat seep out of his hand. Then slowly, _slowly_ , he heightens up the temperature, his eyes on Kyungsoo, alert for any kind of reaction. 

After deliberate patience, Chanyeol finally gets what he wants. 

“Oww!” Kyungsoo cries out, ripping his wrist out of Chanyeol’s grasp who feels like crying out of happiness. He blinks, eyes watery as he focuses on the taller witch. 

“Brother Chanyeol...” Kyungsoo acknowledges him as he massages his wrist. “What’s happening? And you’re so mean!” He pouts. “Why would you burn me? My wrist hurts!” 

“I’m really sorry, I had to do that because you were so out of it. A demon had been summoned into the Institution and is spreading hallucinatory fear over all of you,” Chanyeol tells him as he gets to his feet. “Baekhyun and the others are in the Celestial Space trying to deal with it. He told me I need to look for the demon’s name from his demonology book. You’re roommates with him, right? Please help me.” 

“Alright!” Kyungsoo says as he stands up. He then bolts out of the room , leading the way. 

“I might know the demon! What did it look like?” 

“Fucking ugly, for starters,” Chanyeol says with a little chortle. “It’s got this batty aesthetic going on for him. At least his wings were cool. It was leather. Or seems like it, I don’t know.” 

“Oh!” Kyungsoo gasps as he clicks his fingers. “I’m so disappointed in myself! We had a lesson on Demonology for this and I can remember that guy! Not its name though, dammit.” 

Chanyeol nods. “It’s okay, let’s just hurry and look for Baekhyun’s book.” 

A little while after, Kyungsoo leads him into the dorms and into one of the rooms just a couple of doors away from his own. The doorknob glows then he opens it, letting Chanyeol in first. 

“Give me a moment,” Kyungsoo says, rushing towards a bookshelf. He mumbles under his breath, reading through the names of the books on the spine. He lets out a little gasp when he finds the right book and pulls it out, turning towards Chanyeol as he flips through it. 

“Fear… Fear...” Kyungsoo murmurs as he flips through the pages. “Fear… Fear… here!” He stops on a page bearing the illustration of that same demon at the Celestial Space and points at it. “Is that it?” 

“It’s the same thing!” Chanyeol cries out. 

“Okay, we’re running out of time,” Kyungsoo says, closing the book. “I hope you aren’t feeling frail right now.” 

Chanyeol furrows his eyebrows. “Why?” 

“We’re going to teleport.” 

“Wait, what- fuck!” 

The last time Chanyeol felt this was back when Sungyeol teleported him. When he and Kyungsoo got to the Celestial Space, he’s disoriented, losing sense of his surroundings with his stomach doing all sorts of backflips that has him wanting to throw up everything that he had ate during breakfast (which wasn’t even that much since it was just bread and orange juice). 

“Watch out!” he hears Yixing shout. Chanyeol looks over his shoulder, eyes widening when he sees the demon flying towards them, still in chains with Yixing hanging from the other end. He pushes Kyungsoo out of the away and they roll off to the side, successfully avoiding the terrible carnage that could have happened. 

“Where is Baekhyun?!” Chanyeol yells out, eyes darting around the area. Luckily, the barriers are still up. The only bad news is that Baekhyun along with the Pride sisters, Jongdae and Minseok are laying on the ground, barely moving. 

“Kyungsoo, what do we do?!” Chanyeol cries out. 

“Send it back to the Abyss!” Kyungsoo says, tugging at his clothes. “I’d do it b-but I don’t think I have enough willpower-” 

Chanyeol grabs his shoulder and flails a hand out, saying, “Look at Yixing! He is barely holding on! Look at me, I can barely do anything other than telekinesis or making things explode or setting them on fire! Look at you, you are a decent witch! Do you really have any time to feel insecure?!” 

Kyungsoo’s bottom lip quivers and for a moment, Chanyeol feels bad for yelling at him. But that disappears when Kyungsoo breathes heavily then raises his arms up towards the demon. 

“Timor, the Creator of Fear and Sower of Dread, abide to me!” Kyungsoo exclaims, his voice shaky. The demon stops midway through flight, but not because of Kyungsoo’s magic. 

“Weak witch, you dare contest me?” the demon cackles. “Laughable! Has the Roselake coven become this pathetic?” 

The insult causes Kyungsoo to tremble. Chanyeol looks at him, concerned, but he realizes it’s not out of insecurity. 

It’s anger. 

“Timor, stop running your mouth and abide to me!” Kyungsoo hisses with more venom and conviction to his words. “I know your name and you will suffer more than I initially intend to if you do not listen to what I say!” 

The demon growls at him, moving to seize him, but an invisible force keeps it in place. It looks confused at first, but when it realizes that it is Kyungsoo’s magic, it roars at him in such a beastial way. 

“You are weak, you are pathetic! You cannot defeat me, you cannot-” 

“Timor, I banish you to the Abyss!” Kyungsoo shouts. 

Yixing, who was still dangling on the end of the chains that bound Timor, yelps as he jumps off and rolls before the ground opened once again into a black swirling hole with the sounds of the tormented souls resonating from it. The demon lets out ugly shrieks that hurt Chanyeol’s ears when ghostly red hands reach out from the pits then drag him down under. The hole only closes the moment the demon is fully under and back into the Abyss where it belongs. 

Out of exhaustion, Kyungsoo stumbles back and then plop on to the floor. He pants, grinning to himself in satisfaction. 

“That was my first demon banishing,” he says. He looks up at Chanyeol with sparkling wide eyes. “It was so cool!” 

Chanyeol crouches then pats his back firmly. “You did a great job.” 

After that, Chanyeol then moves over to Yixing, who keeps on groaning as he lays on the ground. 

“Dude, are you okay?” Chanyeol asks as he helps him sit up. 

“Yeah, I’m alright,” Yixing waves a hand. “But I’m not sure about Brother Baekhyun, Minseok, Jongdae and the Pride sisters. Can you go ahead and check on them?” 

“How about you?” 

“I’m fine, I can heal quickly,” Yixing reassures him. “Please go, make sure they are fine.” 

Since the Pride sisters seem to be doing okay checking up on themselves and Jongdae and Minseok are now okay, Chanyeol walks up to check on Baekhyun. He’s relieved to see him roll over and smile up at him, looking groggy and in pain. 

“Are you okay?” Chanyeol hastily asks, worried out of his mind as he carefully positions Baekhyun until his head is on his lap. 

“Nothing bad, probably just a concussion,” Baekhyun says. When Chanyeol gives him a serious look, he rolls his eyes and adds, “Well, not as bad as getting killed, so don’t look at me like that.” 

After that fiasco, the whole Institution is given a rest for the whole day. Jaehwan is reprimanded for his reckless decision-making. Yixing, Baekhyun and the Pride sisters are given treatment while Chanyeol and the others are left to spent their day how they want it. 

“You know what’s worse about this?” Sehun says as he crashes on to the couch with a cup of soda. They are currently hanging out in the commons area along with other witches to appease their boredom since phones weren’t allowed or any technology at the matter since those are useless anyway with the disruption of magic so they can’t really do anything interesting. 

“What?” Chanyeol asks, a bit disinterested because he is reading through a book that Baekhyun told him to read for the day. 

“This is supposedly normal,” Sehun says as he eyes the other witches who are all ignoring them as they had a good time socializing. Most of them are their age or close, labelled as secondary level (kind of like in highschool). The primary levels and middle levels are located deeper into the Institution, far away from the affliction of the demon so they were safe and can have their classes going. 

“You mean we’ll get more demon attacks?” Nayoung says with a little chortle. 

“Yeah we barely even managed to deal with that one,” Chanyeol chuckles with a roll of his eyes. 

“But it’s good training, isn’t it?” Jongin suddenly appeared from behind them, jumping over the couch’s backrest then sits in between the twins. “We won’t be capable witches if we don’t tackle real life situations.” 

“Tell that to that one witch coven wiped out because a witch accidentally summoned a demon of disease,” Nayoung sasses at him as she rolls her eyes. 

“Everything has its downsides,” Jongin shrugs. 

“Demon attacks do more bad than good,” Nayoung argues. 

“I’ve got nuts!” Kyungsoo announces as he appears, happily lifting up a bowl filled with roasted nuts. 

“Can I have some?” Jongin wiggles his eyebrows suggestively with a smirk. 

“I want some,” Sehun says. “I’ve been abstinent for too long, I need those.” 

“You guys are gross,” Nayoung groans while Kyungsoo is just cluelessly distributing the nuts. 

  
  
  
  
  


The days pass quietly for them. Chanyeol spends his days studying and honing his witchcraft under Baekhyun’s care, doing his best to be as competent at he could. Attending the Institution was slightly better than highschool because he didn’t feel as alone here. He had the twins, he had Baekhyun, he had Kyungsoo, he had Jongin, he had the Pride sisters and the other witches who slowly warmed up to him when they found out that he’s just a chill guy. 

Maybe at the verge of getting killed isn’t as bad when it meant having a stable circle of friends (yes, even the Pride sisters). 

Chanyeol also adapts to the ways of the witches. He learns how to dress himself with all black in the most fashionable way possible. He also learns to wear earrings (even though he didn’t think he particularly fits those because of his ears), along with make-up and even nail polish. There are also some traditions that he adapts to, like how they need to worship the stars and give their thanks every Sunday, how there are auspicious moments in time and dates for various spells to be stronger and lots of other things. 

He’s surprisingly enjoying this. 

“Emergency,” Baekhyun says, dramatically flicking his arms out to open the doors to Chanyeol and the twins’ bedroom with Jongin, Kyungsoo and the Pride sisters in tow. 

“What’s up?” Chanyeol quickly perks up, and so does Nayoung and Sehun who are bored out of their minds (how they even survived at this point without phones after three weeks is something they fail to understand). 

It was a Saturday, and even if that meant that they can go out of the Institution, the Oh and Park trio are not granted with that kind of privilege. After all, they have been dragged here against their will so they are more or less likely considered as prisoners now. 

“Brother Yixing told me there was something strange going on in town and we have to quickly find what it is,” Baekhyun starts. “Of course he can do it by himself but he told me he’s going to be really busy in preparation for the Feast of Houses so he’s dumping the responsibility on us. The Pride sisters forced me into bringing them and just to make sure they won’t kill me I brought with me Jongin and Kyungsoo. You guys might wanna come, too.” 

“Why us? Shouldn’t this be work for the adults?” Chanyeol says. 

“The adults have better things to deal with, unfortunately,” Zhou chimes in. “So we seniors are left to no choice but to do it. Of course, you know, only if you are willing.” 

“Okay, one quick moment,” Sehun says lifting a finger up. “Can you tell me what month it is?” 

Chanyeol side-eyes his cousin. “Dude, you seriously don’t know?” 

Sehun shrugs, simply saying, “We don’t have accessible calendars here.” 

“It’s November,” Kyungsoo says in his happy chirpy self. “We’ve got quite a lot of auspicious moments this month!” 

“Ah no wonder,” Sehun flicks his hand aimlessly. “Some kids I was close with back at Roselake High are freaky as fuck. They hold orgy parties once in a while, especially during November. They say it’s hormones, but who are they kidding? Science?” He simpered as he rolled eyes. “The only possible reason is that they are under the influence of sex demons.” 

“Then that might be it,” Jongin says. “We just have to banish those uglies back to the Abyss, right?” 

“I think the sex demons aren’t the issue here,” Rena interjects. “It’s bigger than that. You know how demons work. There are politics in the Abyss, too. There might be greater influences at work here.” 

“Well crap, then we need to get a move on,” Jongin claps his hands. 

Baekhyun shifts his eyes directly at Chanyeol. “You coming?” 

“Is it really okay, Kyoong?” 

All the other witches in the room chortled, and no matter how hard they all suppressed it, the two notice it. Baekhyun rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t really react and just focuses on Chanyeol. 

“Yeah, we’ll need all the people we could.” 

“I’m in then, since you asked so nicely,” Chanyeol smiles, flirtatiously winking at him. Baekhyun’s cheeks flush while the other witches howl out in disgust, with Jongin covering Kyungsoo’s eyes, the Pride sisters holding each other as they cackled out like a bunch of animated witches in cartoons while the twins elbow Chanyeol. 

“Go get a fucking room, you two!” Nayoung yells. 

“Let’s just go,” Baekhyun grumbles as he turns around and is the first one to leave the room. 

All in casual mortal clothes for the first time in weeks, the band of witches leave the Institution and go to town. Jongin and Kyungsoo are both a bit unfamiliar with all of it since they never really found the need to leave the fortress or the Institution at that matter, so their eyes are all wide in curiosity as they watched the ways of the mortals. 

“Act normal, please,” Baekhyun whispers to Kyungsoo, who fell back with the group to ask a young boy to let him borrow his phone. Jongin pulls Kyungsoo back then secures him under his arm just to make sure he doesn’t stray away again and go around making poor clueless mortals uncomfortable. 

“What is this place?” Jongin asks. 

“The mall,” Nayoung explains. “It’s where mortals go to buy things, eat, enjoy and just relax. See, those are shops. Those are what mortals go for here.” 

“Interesting!” Kyungsoo yelps out. “Can we look?” 

“Let’s go for clothes,” Zhou decides, leading the mini coven into one of the popular branded clothing stores, earning quite the attention from store-goers and passers-by. 

Meanwhile, Chanyeol takes the courage and sneakily grabs Baekhyun away from the other witches while they aren’t looking, preoccupied at window shopping to notice that they are missing two members. 

“What are you doing?” Baekhyun hisses at him as Chanyeol dragged him by the hand. He bumps into his side then the taller slings an arm over his shoulder, pulling him close. 

“Let’s go grab ice cream,” Chanyeol says, grinning down at him fondly. 

Baekhyun blinks, confounded. “You… You remember that?” 

Chanyeol shrugs, saying, “A little bit. My memories are coming back even though they are pretty murky. Strawberry, right?” 

The smaller witch looks away, cheeks rosy. He’s more shy than embarrassed, which is a good thing because it means he’s not exactly trying to be elusive from the idea of being with Chanyeol right now. 

Maybe today, Chanyeol can crack Baekhyun up a bit more. 

“I really don’t think leaving them like that is a good idea,” Baekhyun says while _eagerly_ licking on his strawberry ice cream (ironically). They are currently inside an ice cream shop inside the same mall. Inside, everything is nothing but cream and pastel colors, so it is kind of a refreshing thing for the two witches since they’ve been surrounded by nothing but black and dreary colors at the Institution. 

“Relax, they can handle themselves,” Chanyeol tells him. “Just enjoy your ice cream. You can’t cockblock yourself while you’re obviously enjoying.” 

“I can’t help it, you know this,” Baekhyun sighs as he licks the back of his spoon. “Everything is different now, Chanyeol. I know that we’re young and we need to live our lives, but we’ve got your evil dad out on the prowl who will do anything just to kill you for his own benefit. I can’t just fuck around and be all shits and giggles with you because if I lose you, it’s gonna be all on me.” 

Baekhyun reaches out, tilting his head to the side as he touches Chanyeol’s cheek and stares at him with a forlorn glint in his eyes. 

“And I can’t afford that.” 

Chanyeol pouts as he leans his cheek further against Baekhyun’s palm, holding his hand then he kisses his wrist. 

“I’m sorry. I guess I’m just too immature to be needy of your attention.” 

“It’s cute, don’t get me wrong,” Baekhyun laughs, soothing his cheek with his thumb. “It makes me feel relieved to know that you still like me even when you don’t exactly remember everything that we’ve had. I thought you might be into Rena after what she had done.” 

Chanyeol raises an eyebrow then smirks at him teasingly. “Were you jealous?” 

Baekhyun rolls his eyes and moves away from him, but Chanyeol grabs his arms and laughs out loud. 

“Let me go, stupid,” Baekhyun groans, closing his eyes as he wiggles out of the other witch’s grasp. 

“I bet you were jealous!” Chanyeol laughs as he pulls Baekhyun in for a hug. “Ah, please don’t worry. If it makes you feel better, I occasionally got feelings and memories during those days that she faked being my girlfriend that I thought I spent with her but were actually with you.” 

“This is embarrassing, let me go,” Baekhyun says, but his voice is filled with mirth and the way he just weakly struggles away from Chanyeol proves that he’s not really against this. 

A few moments later, Baekhyun suddenly perks up and tenses. Of course, this doesn’t go unnoticed by Chanyeol who quickly reacts to see what was the matter. 

“What’s up?” the taller witch wonders. “Is there something wrong?” 

“Fuck, we need to get out of here,” Baekhyun swears as he hurriedly pushes his chair back and stands up. He grabs Chanyeol’s arm and pulls him out of the ice cream store, to which the taller just goes through with in confusion, having no idea what was happening. 

Chanyeol is used to not knowing what is going on at this point and it doesn’t even perturb him anymore because it became a constant mood ever since he got himself involved in this world. 

Baekhyun drags him back to the store where they had left the others. They enter, then he starts pulling Chanyeol around in search for their friends. They cross through aisles, look into every dressing room, searching every square inch for them. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Baekhyun swears, each vulgar word stressed out until the end as he lets go of Chanyeol and tugs at his blond hair in frustration. 

“We lost them, fuck,” he says, rubbing his face in distress. 

“What? Why did we lose them? Maybe they just went to another store or looked for us,” Chanyeol reasons out. 

“I heard Zhou,” Baekhyun says. “She’s currently one of the only people in the Institution who has the ability to do direct telepathy. I heard her yell at me for help before she disappeared.” 

“What on earth?” Chanyeol says, face screwing out of indignation. “Who would even-” 

The world seems to spiral for Chanyeol when he’s suddenly struck by a dizzying sensation, as if he had been hit on the head. He doubles over, one hand flying up to his temple, wincing as he blinks his eyes to try and get a hold of his focus to regain his balance. He can vaguely hear Baekhyun’s voice calling out for him but he sounds miles away. 

A moment later, everything seems to stabilize for him. Chanyeol straightens up, squinting as he tries to make out his surroundings. 

But there seems to be something wrong with his vision. 

Chanyeol slightly panics when he doesn’t see Baekhyun beside him, even more so when the colors he can usually see are now faded, leaning more towards greyscale. He feels his heartbeat fast, wondering what the hell was happening to him. He is still inside the clothing store, but he can see that the sales clerks present there aren’t moving, as if the world had stopped. 

Until Chanyeol sees the people just ahead of them. 

It’s Zhou and the others, their hands raised up above their heads while they are surrounded by teenagers their age armed with crossbows. She talks to them, her beautiful face fierce and threatening as she seethes at them, lips mouthing over her words with venom. When her talk doesn’t seem to push through with the assailants who just threatens her more with their crossbows, she shouts. Sehun and Nayoung raise their hands into the witch’s threefold, shoving all of their assailants back to the ground. While they are down, Zhou yells for all of them to quickly run out of the store, but in the process of doing so, one of their assailants recovers and quickly sends an arrow flying, finding home on the soft flesh of Jongin’s calf. He stumbles over and Kyungsoo notices, who cries out in alarm. 

This allows the witches that one fatal moment to come upon them. 

The other witches stop on their tracks to come back for Jongin. Nayoung lifts her hand to create a dome for them, but the threat didn’t come from their assailants. It comes in the form of a green portal that opens up beneath their feet, swallowing them down. 

And just like that, Chanyeol suddenly comes back to reality. 

“Hey!” Baekhyun shakes him, eyebrows scrunched together in worry. “Are you okay? You were out of it it for five minutes!” 

“Baekhyun,” Chanyeol turns to him, eyes wide. “I have no idea what happened, but I saw them.” 

“What?” 

“I-I got a vision!” Chanyeol says as he flails his arms around. “They were assaulted by people with crossbows. They escaped but Jongin got shot… _fuck,_ Baekhyun!” His face screw into concern. “Jongin got shot! Then they were swallowed into this portal thing!” 

“Shit,” Baekhyun angrily says as he kicks a shelf nearby. “Those fucking witch hunters.” 

“Witch hunters?” Chanyeol asks. 

“They’re supposed to have been dealt with so long ago!” Baekhyun whispers aggressively. “Chanyeol, do you know what this means?! We’re so fucking screwed! We were only supposed to deal with the demons, now we have to deal with those bastards, too?!” 

Chanyeol gapes, feeling so unsettled.“Baekhyun, what do we do? Jongin was injured! We need to find them right now!” 

“Yes, of course. We need to go now, but we can’t just go there without a battle plan,” Baekhyun says. “Let’s think. Why would those witch hunters want them now? There have been no activity from them for the past three hundred years here in Roselake.” 

Chanyeol clicks his fingers because he had a vague idea of what it might be, but he does wish this isn’t the case at all. 

“Baekhyun, what if those witch hunters were influenced by demons?” 

The smaller witch nods, his face grim. 

“That’s what I thought so, too. There really is no other explanation more possible than this.” 

“Then what do we do?” 

Baekhyun reaches out and grips his shoulder. He dips his head forward, and Chanyeol imitates this. 

“Just remember the spells that I taught you, especially during Darkness Defense,” Baekhyun murmurs in a low voice. “Those will be essential in dealing with demons. With witch hunters… We have to see for ourselves first before deciding what to do. Diving headfirst into the witch hunters’ business will definitely kill us. These fuckers killed multitudes of our kind before.” 

Chanyeol nods, body rushing with anxiety and adrenaline all at the same time. 

“We need to go, but how can we locate them?” 

“You were able to get visions, right?” Baekhyun says. “Just now, you were able to practice clairvoyance. You’ll sense them on the way.” 

“I really wish that’s the case,” Chanyeol laughs nervously. “It might also be just a spur of the moment kind of thing, I may not be able to do it again.” 

“Don’t say that,” Baekhyun comforts him. “It’s an ability that you are blessed with. No way will the stars fail you, especially at a time like this.” 

Chanyeol just nods, hoping that Baekhyun is right. 

“Okay, can you tell me which spot they have been transported through the portal?” Baekhyun asks. Chanyeol takes his wrist and pulls him towards a corner near the dressing room. Baekhyun lifts his hands up, eyes straying around to make sure no one is looking before his hands glow yellow. He immediately tenses, feeling a strange presence of energies in the area. 

“Demons, alright,” Baekhyun says as his hands dimmed down. “Chanyeol, you trust me, right?” 

“Why?” the taller says dubiously. 

“I’m about to attempt to re-open the portal that had appeared here, a magic that I haven’t done out of practice before,” Baekhyun says. 

“We don’t really have a choice, do we?” Chanyeol smiles. “And yeah, I trust you. You’re a prodigy.” 

“Sometimes it’s embarrassing when I hear people say that,” Baekhyun chuckles. 

“You said that to the coven when you were trying to save me.” 

“I was desperate, I had to show them how capable I am,” Baekhyun laughs as he shakes his head. “But okay, back to business. Do you remember the cloaking spell?” 

“Sure.” 

“Hide us,” Baekhyun instructs. “It will be weird if they see me messing up their tiles. They’ll think we’re Satanic.” 

“Aren’t we?” Chanyeol jokes, nudging Baekhyun with an elbow. 

“Satan doesn’t exist, genius. There’s only your ugly reptilian dad and the evil overlord of the darkness.” 

After he cackles to what Baekhyun said, Chanyeol does as he is told, muttering the spell under his breath before he crosses his arms over his chest and walks to trace the outline of the area that he needs to hide. When he’s done, he stops to watch Baekhyun, who had written a pentagram on the tiles with the tip of his finger. He then places a palm in the middle flat on the ground, mumbling a spell. A series of golden symbols appear to hover in the air and when he’s done, Baekhyun stands up and mumbles one last commanding spell that suddenly makes the symbols swirl of dust and gold. 

“Hopefully we won’t cut our heads while crossing through space and time with this one,” Baekhyun says with mock excitement as he stares down at the portal that he has created. He extends his hand out to Chanyeol and asks, “Ready?” 

“Wait,” Chanyeol holds his hand up. “You mean if we go through this thing, we’re going to _die_?” 

“And what about it?” Baekhyun sasses at him, eyes narrowed into a challenge. 

“I was just trying to be sarcastic,” Chanyeol winks at him. “I have no qualms about dying.” 

“Good,” Baekhyun chuckles. “Come on, give me your hand. Let’s bring the fun up on this bitch.” 

“I doubt there’s anything fun about dying, Baekhyun- fuck!” 

Baekhyun laughs out loud with manic glee as he jumps into the portal and drags Chanyeol along with him. Chanyeol can’t even find himself to care about how he feels like his limbs are being stretched out as they went through the portal, too preoccupied with the thought of how Baekhyun is so cute when he’s acting so crazy and reckless like this. 

The next moment, Chanyeol finds himself landing face first on the ground. He groans, his face feeling numb for a moment as he pushes himself up. Baekhyun is groaning next to him, but he has fortunately landed on his back instead. 

“Fuck, you know what? I’m so dumb,” Baekhyun grunts as he hauls himself up. “I didn’t think about where the portal would lead us. It’s just a good thing that we landed on a spot where there aren’t any witch hunters around.” 

Chanyeol looks around, and Baekhyun’s right. They are in the woods, and there isn’t any presence of another being around them. He stands up to his feet, helping Baekhyun up as well as he continues to stray his eyes around, wondering how they would be able to locate their friends now. 

That’s until Chanyeol feels that familiar dizzying sensation again, and his eyesight fades out into greyscale again. 

Just like before, Baekhyun isn’t with him even though they are still on the same spot. Who he does see are their friends, groaning on the ground with around five witch hunters surrounding them, their bows levelled on them. Zhou hisses at them ferociously as her hand blazes with energy, but one of the witch hunters kicks him to the side. Nayoung shouts at them, but more witch hunters just appear and they all start to manhandle them and bind their wrists behind their backs with rope. 

After the witch hunters haul them up and carry them away, Chanyeol comes back to reality, seeing Baekhyun staring up at him curiously with bright, endearing eyes. 

“What did you see?” he wonders, lightly tugging at his arm. “Did you see them?” 

Chanyeol points to the direction that he had seen the witch hunters headed to. “I saw them go there. We may be able to catch up to them.” 

“Alright,” Baekhyun takes his hand. “Let’s go.” 

Moving stealthily through the trees and making sure their boots don’t make too much noise, Chanyeol and Baekhyun do their best to trace their tracks. Once in awhile for a few seconds, Chanyeol’s vision slides into an episode (as he likes to call it) and guides them into the proper direction until they reach a clearing. 

“Shit,” Baekhyun mumbles as he pulls Chanyeol behind a tree. They both only peek out from the side, careful not to be caught. 

On this clearing, a witch sacrifice thing is laid out, much like in the olden times. All seven of them are bound up on stakes, with firewood beneath their feet and multiple witch hunters everywhere. But the most interesting thing about this whole set-up is the swirling green portal just meters away from the staked witches. 

“What the fuck is that?” Chanyeol murmurs, referring to the portal thing up ahead. 

“I have no idea,” Baekhyun whispers back. “All I know is that we were disappointingly right.” 

More of the witch hunters arrive. There were three, with one in the middle who seemingly acts as the leader and looks vaguely familiar aside from the fact that he was one of the witch hunters who assaulted their friends at the clothing store. 

“Welcome, everyone!” he announces, arms wide open as he smiles, his eyes bright with the obvious madness that lurks within. 

“Something seems wrong about that one,” Chanyeol observes. 

“Of course there is,” Baekhyun says. “He is possessed.” 

“Today, we gather here to once again start a new era for our lineage as witch hunters.” The lead witch hunter walks towards the witches who eye him with a mixture of terror and spite as he smiles wider up at them. 

“The last time a horde of you heretics have been burned went all the way back to the 18th century,” he says. “It is lucky for your wretched kind that powerful people have been able to lay down laws to protect you and that your predecessors have tried to end our lineage. But with your sacrifice, our legacy will begin once again. We will free the world from your cursed kind!” 

“Junmyeon!” Sehun suddenly exclaims, much to everyone’s surprise. “You are being manipulated! You do not know what you are doing!” 

“Silence!” Junmyeon shouts at him, his voice strangely doubling over with multiple layers, as if there are people talking along with him. He is still smiling yet his eyes are wide in a mix of insanity and fury. “I am not familiar with any heretic witch, so you might as well shut your mouth or you take the honors of being the first one to burn at the stake.” 

“That’s right,” Chanyeol says, clicking his fingers when he comes to a realisation. “That’s Sehun’s boyfriend. Or I don’t know, really. I only saw him at the party before. He never talks about his relationships.” 

“Fuck you!” Sehun exclaims angrily. “May the stars curse you and make you burn in the depths of the Abyss!” 

“Then have the honor of burning first,” Junmyeon says, spreading his arms. Torches propped up at the sides suddenly light up, and a witch hunter walked over with a smaller torch in hand to light it up to transfer the blaze to the firewood beneath the stakes. 

“That kid’s mouth is gonna kill him,” Baekhyun groans as he pushes Chanyeol back to face him. “Listen, we’re losing time. You’re good at offense. You deal with those witch hunters, I’ll deal with Junmyeon.” 

“No burning, right?” 

Baekhyun shakes his head in confirmation. “Nope. These are brainwashed mortals, they don’t know what they’re doing.” 

“Alright,” Chanyeol sighs. “I’ll just toss them around and play with them like little insects until you can do something about Junmyeon, right?” 

“That’s about it,” Baekhyun says. “So, you ready?” 

“I’m always ready to die and try not to make it happen.” 

The smaller witch sighs. Chanyeol is surprised when Baekhyun suddenly pulls him down by the neck and crashes his lips full against his. Too overwhelmed by surprise, he doesn’t even get to react properly when Baekhyun leans away again and offers him a reassuring smile. 

“Kick their asses for me, hmm?” Baekhyun says, ruffling his hair as he then turns around and heads out into enemy territory. 

_Here we go, then._

“Hello there!” Baekhyun calls out, with Chanyeol following after him. “We’re kind of lost and you guys seem to be having a crazy party going on here. Mind if we joined you?” 

Junmyeon faces him and laughs out loud with wicked glee. “My my, if it isn’t an iconic duo! An Aquila and Draco! What a fitting addition to our line-up for the sacrifice to launch the beginning of a new witch hunting era and the downfall of witchkind!” 

All the witch hunters suddenly turn to them, their crossbows all aimed in their direction. 

“Whoa there, we just wanted to join the party. Rude,” Baekhyun says, feigning disappointment as they both slowly raise their hands up. 

“Shall I show them what they’re missing?” Chanyeol says, grinning mischievously. The adrenaline is pumping so harshly in his veins, and he’s getting more excited than nervous at what they’re about to do. 

“Go ahead,” Baekhyun tells him, both of them looking at the lead witch hunter with the same mischievous smile. 

Before Junmyeon can yell his command, Chanyeol suddenly waves his hands. The witch hunters could only stare on in stunned silence when their crossbows suddenly levitate into the air. They only break away from their astonishment when the crossbows suddenly point down towards them instead. 

“Run!” one of the witch hunters yell as Chanyeol flicks his hands again and the arrows start raining down on them. They all scramble away, with some braver ones dashing towards them angrily. 

“I said, don’t kill them!” Baekhyun yells. 

“No one died!” Chanyeol yells back at him with a laugh as they separate, with him facing the witch hunters and Baekhyun off to deal with Junmyeon on his own. 

Before he could even finish a spell to petrify the witch hunters, one of them suddenly tackles Chanyeol to the ground. The oxygen leaps out of his lungs when he hits the ground, but his senses are heightened and tingling in attention that Chanyeol quickly reacts and sends him flying away from him. He quickly gets back up to his feet, his hands blazing with blue energy as he harnesses it to start throwing everyone around, making sure they’re not anywhere near Baekhyun and Junmyeon who are battling it out on their own just a short distance away from the weird swirling green portal. 

“I swear to the stars I’m trying so hard not to kill any of you but you guys are making it hard for me!” Chanyeol mockingly yells when he senses arrows flying into his direction. He stops the arrows then turns them back towards whoever sent them, only scaring them into running away and intentionally not letting the arrows hit them. 

“Chanyeol! Release us!” Rena shouts out to him. “Baekhyun’s having trouble!” 

Chanyeol momentarily looks over his shoulder, horror attacking him when he sees Baekhyun fighting against a grotesque-looking Junmyeon – his eyes resembling that of a snake with a matching elongated pair of fangs and long, sharp horns protruding out of his forehead. His skin has also started to have shiny green scales, making him look more diabolical this time. 

His few seconds of distraction earned Chanyeol a punch to the face. He grunts as he stumbles back, his lip cut open at the impact. He angrily glares at the witch hunter and swipes his hand in front of him, ultimately tossing the witch hunter off somewhere far enough to hopefully knock him out of his senses. 

“Okay!” Chanyeol yells out in triumph when most of the witch hunters are down on the ground. He backs up then hurries towards his friends. 

“Okay, how do I do this?” he says as he tries to help Zhou first. 

“It’s enchanted,” Zhou says. “We can’t use our magic with this.” 

“Fuck, I have no idea how to handle this the witchy way,” Chanyeol says. “Hey, trust me on this, okay? I’ll do something a bit different.” 

“Wait, what are you- ow!” Zhou shrieks when she feels something burn her skin. 

“Sorry!” Chanyeol yelps. “I’m trying to burn it off with Abysmal Fire and it’s working. Be patient and don’t move around much.” 

“Burn me again and I’ll skin you alive,” Zhou threatens him. 

“Sheesh, a bit of a burn isn’t that much compared to when you’ll burn on the stake,” Chanyeol mumbles. 

Making sure it’s on the lowest possible temperature, Chanyeol guides his fingers over the ropes. They start to burn black then break off, but they’re quite thick so it takes a while. 

When the ropes come off, Zhou stumbles over to the pile of firewood beneath her feet. He’s about to tell her that he needs help with releasing the others but suddenly, Chanyeol catches a movement in his peripheral vision. 

“No!” Chanyeol exclaims when he sees a witch hunter aim at Baekhyun from a far. Not even thinking properly, he quickly throws himself in front of the witch hunter while hastily mumbling a petrifying spell under his breath. 

It does petrify the witch hunter, but it’s a second too late in stopping the arrow. It sails into the air and find its way onto Chanyeol’s arm. He shouts in pain and falls to the ground, strangely feeling his limbs go numb. He feels his senses shut down, and he’s not even able to utter a single word. There’s something in the material in the arrow that’s making him feel like this. 

“Chanyeol!” he hears Nayoung scream, footsteps coming towards him. But Chanyeol doesn’t get to hear anything that she says later because he shuts down and gets pushed out of consciousness. 

Meanwhile, Baekhyun is struggling at trying to hold Junmyeon down. All he could do is try to weaken him enough so he could pin him down and try to make the demon possessing him leave his body. No other spell for purification will be safe enough to keep the mortal vessel that has already been tainted too much intact. 

“Come on, witch,” Junmyeon taunts him after he manages to toss Baekhyun away from him. The blond just groans as the impact of his back meeting the ground sends pain through his body, his exhaustion from the fight making him less tolerable to any kind of pain. “Is that everything that you’ve got? Burn me! Scald my essence slowly, the same with what you have done to the Evil Priest!” 

“So you admit it?” Baekhyun says as he rolls back up to his feet in a crouching position. “You’re working for the Evil Priest and the Dark One?” 

“Yesssss,” Junmyeon hisses happily at him, his forked tongue flicking past his lips. “Having all of you here is very _very_ convenient for us. We’ll have both sets of sacrifices for Sungyeol and Apollyon all in one place. Soon, the whole universe will be ours.” 

“That’s quite a dream you’ve got there,” Baekhyun says as he runs towards Junmyeon to tackle him down once again. 

A dumb move. 

Junmyeon moves unbelievably fast. Baekhyun’s acceleration went off, and because Junmyeon moved away, he falls over dangerously close to the edge of the portal, hearing distant ghostly wails from within it. 

“I see you’ve got quite a tenacity that isn’t really sharp right now,” Junmyeon laughs as he rushes over to Baekhyun. He kicks him over to his back, causing him to grunt, then Junmyeon sits on him. 

“Fuck, are you heavy,” Baekhyun cusses, voice tight in pain. Breathing is hard like this, with the witch hunter sitting on his abdomen. 

“I’ll make you die slowly, as befits the first sacrifice for the Second Revolution of Darkness,” Junmyeon says, tilting his head to the side with his snaky eyes glinting in sadistic delight as he fishes out a knife from his boot and levels it to Baekhyun’s throat. 

“Stay still, okay?” Junmyeon coos, teasing the cold metal against his skin. “I wouldn’t want you to hurt too mu-” 

He suddenly arches back, arms loosely stretched to his sides. He stares down at Baekhyun in confusion, eyes blown and mouth slightly ajar. Then, Junmyeon starts screaming violently, thrashing around like he’s being attacked by a blend of pain or coming down with seizures. 

Baekhyun sits up and shoves him away, relief flowing into him when he sees the others gather in an arc and yell out their spells to cast the demon out of the mortal’s body while some of them closed the portal. He watches at the side how Junmyeon roughly writhes and throws curses out at the witches, but he’s being weakened by each mystic word until he doubles over and starts coughing. 

“It’s too late for you!” the possessed witch hunter yells in between coughs. “E-Even if you end me, it will be inevitable. In three days-” Junmyeon doesn’t finish what he is saying as he gets ravaged by such a harsh coughing fit before something spills out of his mouth. 

It’s an ugly snake-like thing with no eyes but very long fangs and a hood that spreads out with pointed frills at the sides, its skin the color of toxic green, lustrous under the strike of light. 

Recognizing the demon, Baekhyun quickly stands up and shouts, “Peredo, the Serpentine Corroder and Destroyer of Body, abide to me!” 

The demon shrieks, spitting out venom that Baekhyun stops by casting a quick barrier around it. It writhes on the ground, jumping around like it’s on top of burning coals. 

“Looks so fucking ugly,” Roa says, looking away as she gags, feeling squeamish. 

Baekhyun proceeds to banish the demon, which is easier now that it’s been tired from devastating Junmyeon’s body, who just laid on the side unconscious and beaten up pretty bad. Once the demon had been dealt with and the influence on the witch hunters has been lifted, they all proceed to wipe their memories, with Sehun rushing to check on Junmyeon and Baekhyun rushing off to see what had happened to Chanyeol. 

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun calls out, running towards the taller witch who just sat at the feet of one of the stakes. He falls to his knees and takes his hands, panting heavily as he gazes at him in concern. 

“What happened?” Baekhyun murmurs. 

“Just a little injury, but it’s okay now,” Chanyeol says with a tired smile, gesturing towards his wound. “I got hit by an arrow, but it’s better now. I’m still recovering from the effects. Those damn bastards had their arrows spiked with something that could definitely have killed us.” 

Baekhyun loses the tension in his body and falls forward, head leaning against Chanyeol’s shoulder. The taller witch quickly wraps an arm loosely around his body, letting him rest since Baekhyun had done most out of all of them. 

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he mumbles. “I shouldn’t have recklessly made you do that. Now you’re injured, and it’s all because of me.” 

“Nonsense,” Chanyeol says. “It’s not your fault. We needed to do what has to be done. You shouldn’t baby me. You have done so much for me, and this time I just want to fight side by side along with you.” 

Baekhyun sighs. “Fuck this, I’m tired.” 

“I’ll carry you home if you want,” Chanyeol offers as he presses his lips against his cheek. “You’ve done so much yet again.” 

“Alright,” Zhou announces, clapping her hands as they all crowded around Chanyeol and Baekhyun. They had been too preoccupied with each other that they failed to notice Jongin lying on the ground behind them, still unconscious because he’s been exposed to the arrow longer. 

“That serpent guy said we only have three days left before Sungyeol rises,” Zhou says as she crosses her arms. “What should we do? In three days, it’s going to be the annual Feast of Houses. All the witch families will be there. There is no way we could cause mass hysteria during such an important time. It will be more detrimental than good.” 

“Maybe we should tell Mother Kahi about this,” Kyungsoo says. “What Sungyeol is planning is definitely going to be big. Right now, I can feel chaotic energies all around us. They’re everywhere right now.” 

“You guys, we’re going to go back home,” Sehun jumps in. He’s currently carrying an unconscious Junmyeon, looking so battered yet harmless as he curled up against his chest, so far from the demonic possessed witch hunter that he had been minutes ago. 

“I’m coming with him,” Nayoung says. “We need to ask mom for help in nursing this kid back to health.” 

“Of course,” Zhou says. “Run along now, we’ll just go back to the Institution since everyone needs rest.” 

The Pride sisters facilitated a smooth transport to the Institution through a portal. They all separated ways, with Kyungsoo aiding Jongin to his room and with Chanyeol deciding to carry Baekhyun to his own room since he’ll be able to rest there because it’s going to be quiet with Sehun and Nayoung out of the picture. 

“Do you want to eat something?” Chanyeol asks after he lays Baekhyun down on his bed. 

“No,” he says, shaking his head as he reaches out and pulls at Chanyeol’s hand. “I want you here next to me.” 

Of course, Chanyeol complied. There’s no way he can say no when he’s looking up at him those endearing droopy eyes. He slides under the sheets into the spot next to Baekhyun, who immediately curls up into his side and lays his head on his chest. 

Chanyeol just hopes Baekhyun can’t hear the fast beating of his heart. 

“I’m so stressed out of my mind,” Baekhyun mumbles. “I never expected Sungyeol to be this quick at wanting to come back. We all knew he’s going to rise soon, but not this early. It’s so crazy I just…” He shakes his head. “I’m not going to be able to teach everything you need to know so you’d be equipped enough in facing him. There’s just not enough time and I hate this so much… I just hate it…” 

Sobs start leap out of the smaller witch, and Chanyeol is quick to respond with a tight hug and a comforting kiss on the forehead. 

“It’s okay to let it out today,” Chanyeol says, rubbing Baekhyun’s back. “Cry it all out, everything has been so tough for you.” 

“You really shouldn’t be seeing me like this,” Baekhyun says in between fits of hiccups that rattles his body. “I’m supposed to be the stronger one between the two of us. I’m supposed to be the one actively protecting you. I can’t be this weak, I shouldn’t be-” 

“Shhh,” Chanyeol hushes him. “That’s nonsense. Not every hero is strong most of the time. You’re allowed to show your vulnerable side to me. You know I’ll be here for you, right? You can rely on me whenever everything is becoming too much for you to handle.” 

Baekhyun nods, fortunately not having trouble in understanding him. 

“Sometimes I think about how this is all my fault,” Baekhyun continues on. “That because of me, you’ve been brought to this world. If I hadn’t met you at the party, you might still be living a good life in highschool.” 

“Untrue,” Chanyeol rebuts. “One way or another, even if we have not crossed paths, Sungyeol would have seized me anyway. If anything, meeting you had been beneficial in keeping myself alive. You shouldn’t say that this is all your fault, because I think you’re actually my salvation.” 

Baekhyun sighs, closing his eyes. 

“You know how to say things that keep me at ease,” he mumbles. 

Chanyeol hums contentedly as he leans in and kisses Baekhyun’s forehead once more, affectionately doing it multiple times until the smaller witch breaks out into giggles and tries to escape him, effectively lifting up his mood. 

“Hey, stop it!” Baekhyun yelps when Chanyeol takes his face into his hands and started peppering his whole face with kisses, continuously giggling even more when he starts putting little pecks on his lips. 

_A bright smile in the hallway filled with people._

_Twinkling eyes in the middle of hot sex._

_Blood and blades and the desperate need to keep him alive._

_“I love you.”_

“I think I love you too,” Chanyeol whispers after kissing the tip of Baekhyun’s nose. Opening his eyes, he is greeted by the look of astonishment on Baekhyun’s face at his sudden confession. He is speechless, and it doesn’t seem like Chanyeol would hear a response from him any time soon. 

“I’m going to end Sungyeol for you, even if it means I’ll die in the process,” Chanyeol continues on with conviction that even he is scaring himself at how serious he is being. “I’ll kill him to avenge your father, I’ll kill him to save the world, I’ll kill him to keep you safe.” 

Baekhyun just gazes at him, eyes melting softly before he breaks out into a soft smile. 

“That’s too much Chanyeol… but it makes me so happy.” 

  
  
  
  
  


In between classes, the Pride sisters summon Kyungsoo, Jongin, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Sehun and Nayoung into a spare room to discuss their plans. The air in the room is unintentionally tense, probably because all of them feel the pressure of the remaining two days that they have before Sungyeol rises again. 

“How’s Junmyeon?” Chanyeol whispers to Sehun. He and Nayoung had just arrived this morning from Aunt Soojung, helping her treat Junmyeon since the damage that the demon Peredo had afflicted on him seemed pretty bad. 

“He’s conscious now, he just needs rest,” Sehun says. “He’s a bit mad that I transferred schools without telling him.” 

“Bummer,” Chanyeol says. “Will you stay with him?” 

“I guess so.” 

Zhou steps to the front and claps her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Listen, everyone. Two days from now, darkness will come to challenge the stars, and we have to devise a battle strategy for this.” 

“It’s freaking hard because we have no idea what’s gonna go down,” Nayoung chimes in, leaning on the table. “We can’t just let them come and attack us then just make Chanyeol set his dad up on fire.” 

“All we know is that Sungyeol is going to surely come after Chanyeol,” Baekhyun says, restlessly moving his boots that were up on the table. “Where he is, the Evil Priest will undoubtedly come.” 

“That means we’ll just have to put Brother Chanyeol someplace safe where no civilians will be present,” Roa says. “Then there, we can fight him.” 

“We need Mother Kahi’s say in this,” Zhou says. “We can’t do this on our own. We have Brother Baekhyun and all of us are competent in our own way but remember, we shouldn’t underestimate our enemy. This is the Evil Priest we are talking about, someone who has the blessing of Apollyon.” 

“Should we go to her now?” Baekhyun says. “We need a quick resolution for this.” 

The other witches look on in wonder as the nine walk through the hallways. It’s not a normal sight to behold, especially for the Pride sisters who don’t even really like mingling with the rest of them, especially with how they famously used to bully Baekhyun and even bully him more while Baekhyun is out protecting Chanyeol. 

But of course, witch relations can change especially during times of need. 

When they reach the High Priestess’ office, they all crowd around in front of the door with the Pride sisters right up front. They look at each other before bringing all of their fists up to knock. 

At the sound of confirmation from within, they open the door and walk in, with the remaining six pouring in after them. 

“What brings you girls and company here?” Mother Kahi says as she closes a folder and takes her wine glass, the same setup as to when Chanyeol had last been here. 

“Hello, Mother,” the Pride sisters greet her. 

“We are here to inform you about what we had found out yesterday during the mini-mission that Yixing had asked us to do with your permission,” Zhou starts. “And it is of utmost importance.” 

“I see,” Mother Kahi says. She waves a hand, adding, “Carry on. Speak.” 

“Initially, we had thought it might be sex demons because according to Sehun, he knew people influenced by those. But we also there might be something bigger at play. And we were right,” Zhou says. “It had been witch hunters.” 

“Preposterous,” Mother Kahi snaps, making the Pride sisters flinch in fear. She laughs out loud and shakes her head in disbelief. “How could there be witch hunters-” 

“It was because of Peredo, the Serpentine Corroder and Destroyer of Body,” Baekhyun butts in, stepping forward boldly. “They influenced them into doing their bidding. We managed to exorcise the leader and make the others forget. The demon had been able to tell us something important that will happen in two days.” 

“My father will rise again and hunt me down,” Chanyeol adds in. “It will not be like the first time. He won’t just have ugly lizard people working with him. It will be bigger, and he will have demons working under him.” 

“Two days, huh..” the High Priestess mumbles. 

There’s silence as Mother Kahi stares at them critically with sharp brown eyes, her elbows propped up on the table and fingers weaved together in front of her lips. She taps her fingers, her burgundy-colored fingers creating a haunting clicking sound that resonates through the room. The silence is too much Chanyeol could almost hear the cogs and screws inside the High Priestess’ mind, turning as she went through her choices in harmony with the anticipating breaths of each of the younger witches. 

“Alright,” Mother Kahi finally says. “I have decided what to do.” 

Suddenly, she stands up. The High Priestess spreads her arms out and flicks her hands, making eight of the witches slam back against the shelves and unable to move, with Chanyeol left standing in the middle in confusion as he feels his body freezing. 

“Mother, what are you doing?!” Rena yells out. 

“I have no choice,” Mother Kahi says, hands sparking with red energy as she mutters a spell that evokes the formation of a portal beneath Chanyeol’s feet, slowly picking up gravity and seemingly sucking down at the heels of his feet. He moves his head, eyes wide in fright but he can’t seem to utter a single word. 

_Fuck, am I finally gonna die today?_

“Hey, what’s going on? What are you gonna do to Chanyeol?!” Sehun shouts. 

“What are you doing?! Let us go!” Baekhyun exclaims, trying to move his body but he couldn’t. “What are you doing to Chanyeol?!” 

“This is the only way that we could really stop Sungyeol from finding Chanyeol and using him,” Mother Kahi explains. Chanyeol lets out a scream when he suddenly plummets down the portal, with Baekhyun shout after him. 

“Are you crazy, you old hag?!” Baekhyun yells at her angrily. “Sungyeol will still find him!” 

“Silence,” Mother Kahi hisses at him. “You and the others will not have anything to do with this fight. You will attend the Feast of Houses like everyone else in the coven, while our experienced combatants will handle this situation. Until Sungyeol is vanquished completely, Chanyeol will stay someplace safe where no one, not even Sungyeol, will be able to find him.” 

“This is not how it works!” Baekhyun growls. “You are messing with everything! I swear to the stars that what you are doing is wrong and you will regret it!” 

Mother Kahi glares at him. She knocks off a series of books at the edge of her table, creating a loud slam as she walks over to Baekhyun, her heels clacking loudly on the floor. When she reaches the witch, she closes up on him then seizes his face into her hand, fingernails digging into his cheeks. 

“Another word Byun Baekhyun and I will tear you to pieces,” Mother Kahi says through gritted teeth, each word stressed out to a degree to make a point. “It is time you stop imposing yourself and defying everything I say. Know your place, and don’t act like you know any better.” 

She lets go of Baekhyun, who just stares at her with a fiery look in his eyes, the remaining respect that he has for her stopping him from spouting anymore words against her. 

With a whisk of her hand, Mother Kahi turns her back on them and says, “Go through your days like you normally would. Let the adults worry about our impending doom. You kids have done your part. Now leave, and don’t do anything funny behind my back or I will not hesitant to lay down punishment.” 

Without saying anything else, the remaining eight all turn towards the door, exiting the office with an air of dread and gloom. 

“What are we going to do now, Brother Baekhyun?” Jongin asks, quickly rushing up to Baekhyun’s side with the others as they walk down the hallway in a clump. “We can’t just let Mother Kahi handle this! You know how she works - no offense Sister Zhou, Rena and Roa - but her war tactics are always more about brute power than strategy.” 

“I can attest to that,” Zhou says begrudgingly. “She didn’t even plan an elaborate plan for us to do to effectively capture Brother Chanyeol the first time, not the second time nor the third time as well. We can’t trust her to be able to handle this successfully.” 

“Let’s just be discreet,” Baekhyun murmurs, already trying to devise something off the top of his head. “Brother Kyungsoo, will you be able to track Chanyeol?” 

“I’ll try,” Kyungsoo says. “But I’ll need help.” 

Baekhyun nods. 

“We’re not going to let our hard work go down the drain, brothers and sisters. Rules be damned.” 

  
  
  
  
  


The last time Chanyeol felt this helpless, it had been back during the first few weeks of losing his adoptive parents. 

He had been sad, void of life, having no idea how to fight back against such a harsh reality of never seeing his family whole again. He was just seventeen, too young to have his whole life taken away from him. 

Just like this, while he’s at the bottom of the cold pit that the diabolical High Priestess had thrown him in curled up in a fetal position on the floor, Chanyeol gets haunted by desolate recurring thoughts since there is nothing to do in the darkness. 

The darkness. 

It can never seem to escape Chanyeol. It’s literally everywhere - in his mind, in his heart, all around them - and more darkness will come because his own biological father wants to kill him just to bring back the personification of Darkness itself. 

Chanyeol knows Mother Kahi isn’t the villain here. She threw him in here because it’s what she thinks can best protect him from being caught up in Sungyeol’s net. It’s for the best, but it’s really not. He has a huge role to play in ultimately killing his father, and keeping him in here will just prolong the agony of all the other witches. Sungyeol is the Evil Priest for a reason. He didn’t think twice about killing his own wife and even attempting to kill his own son for Apollyon, so there is absolutely no reason for them to think that he will hesitate to trample on every witch out there just so he can find him. 

And that’s what truly makes Chanyeol feel so helpless - not being able to do something about all this even if he is an instrumental key to Sungyeol’s permanent downfall. 

How long had Chanyeol even been here? Has it been a day already? Has it been two days? Has the war started? He has not felt any sort of hunger or any craving for body needs ever since he got here. 

_Someone get me out of here,_ he thinks for the umpteenth time, and he will not stop doing so. 

Entering the witch world had been nothing but such a confusing journey but at the same time, it’s one that has allowed Chanyeol to finally find a place in this world. He feels like truly belongs with the likes of the Pride sisters, who even though they initially wanted to kill him, they still helped him. He feels like he truly belongs with the likes of Jongin and Kyungsoo, who are both so friendly and accepting of him. He feels like he truly belongs with the likes of his cousins and his Aunt Soojung, who are all so kind hearted to take him under their wing. He truly belongs with the likes of Baekhyun, who is so brave in putting Chanyeol and the welfare of the universe before him, ready to defy all the odds just to keep everything he holds dear safe from anything or anyone that dare destroys them. 

Despite all the near-to-death experiences, Chanyeol can say that he’s right at home. 

A crashing sound suddenly resonates through the empty pit, startling Chanyeol into sharply standing up to his feet with his hands blazed up in the Abysmal Fire that lights up the whole place in a dim bluish glow, ready to fight. 

“Brother Chanyeol, it’s us!” 

Lowering his guard down, Chanyeol squints his eyes and he sees who he can make out as Yixing and Kyungsoo, along two other council members that he recognizes as Minseok and Jongdae. There is a portal swirling behind them, and they’re all dressed up in neat formal garments. 

“I thought I was done for!” Chanyeol gasps out, extinguishing his flames as a rush of relief floods into him. “I thought Sungyeol had finally come!” 

“Bro, are you okay?” Minseok asks, clapping Chanyeol’s back. He’s really muscular despite being shorter, and Chanyeol chokes a bit. “Heavens, I couldn’t believe what Kyungsoo told us about all this shit with Sungyeol rising in two days, but just now while we were sneaking out of the feast, we saw all the combatants marching around while the rest of us partied at the fortress!” 

“So it has been two days since I’ve been thrown in here?” Chanyeol says. 

“You’re lucky you stayed sane,” Yixing clicks his tongue. “I would have lost my mind.” 

“Mother Kahi is so cruel! She wants to protect you but she throws you into this kind of place?!” Jongdae says as he looks around in disbelief. “Not cool!” 

“We have to get going,” Kyungsoo says, grabbing Jongdae’s arm. “I’m starting to feel chaos magic approach us. It’s near. It will be time soon.” 

Chanyeol’s heart starts pumping so fast. 

It’s all on him now. 

When they cross through the portal, Chanyeol and the other witches find themselves in one of the classrooms. As they make their way out to rendezvous with the others who are in on the plan, the whole place suddenly starts quaking. 

“What’s happening?!” Jongdae screams as he holds on to Minseok. 

“They’re here!” Kyungsoo shrieks. “Darkness is here!” 

The air seems to shift, and there seems to be this sort of miasma that pollutes the atmosphere within the Institution. They can hear the sound of footsteps outside along with shouts and unearthly noises. The young witches within the room look at each other, spooked out with their nerves buzzing at what was happening. 

“Holy shit...” Chanyeol murmurs as he leans against the wall. “This is really happening... ” He looks up to the others. “You guys… tell me what Baekhyun and the others are doing right now.” 

“We agreed to just sneak around,” Kyungsoo says. “They’ll oversee the whole situation and contact us once it all starts. We need to keep out of the fight as much as possible and not let any of the combatants see us.” 

“The Institution is a fucking battleground…” Minseok sighs. “Brothers, I can’t believe this is happening so soon.” 

“We just need to keep strong,” Yixing says, clenching his fist. “The stars will not abandon us, yeah?” 

“You’re right,” Chanyeol nods as he breathes deeply. He’s so terribly nervous and terrified out of his wits right now, but he needs to be strong. “We’ll get through this.” 

“G-Guys…” Kyungsoo clutches on to Jongdae, tugging at his arm as he rips his abdomen and dips forward. 

“What’s wrong with you?” Jongdae wonders, holding Kyungsoo by the arms. 

Out of surprise, Jongdae screeches when Kyungsoo doubles over and begins puking out hordes of black, live beetles, much to the horror of the other witches. 

“Kyungsoo! What on earth?!” Chanyeol yells out in shock. 

The afflicted witch keeps on coughing up, holding onto his throat as he keeps on vomiting. But in the middle of doing so, Kyungsoo struggles to lift a finger up and points at the door. 

“S-Someone-” 

The door suddenly turns into beetles, melting down as they scurry away to reveal a mummy-like demon, wrapped in very old rags with green glowing eyes. It lifts his arms up into their direction and moves forward. 

“I call upon the elements-” Yixing attempts, but he, Jongdae and Minseok suddenly choke and double over to also vomit beetles on to the floor. 

Which all leaves to Chanyeol now. 

_“Fortify me,”_ he says, arms crossed over his chest. A blue translucent screen appears in front of him, protecting him from the mummy’s affliction. 

And then, Chanyeol does it old school and spreads his arm, hands light up with Abysmal Fire as he then sets the demon up in flames. 

It starts shrieking as it got engulfed in blue fire, moving around and crashing into desk and chairs. While it’s distracted, Chanyeol turns to his friends and says, “You guys! Let’s teleport out of here!” 

“To where?” Kyungsoo asks, having recovered yet his voice is very scratchy from the pain of being cursed with beetles. 

“Bring me to where the others are,” Chanyeol says. 

Kyungsoo raises his hands, closing his eyes as he starts sensing for them. Chanyeol preoccupies himself by pushing the mummy away from them as much as possible. When Kyungsoo locates them, he says, “They’re at the Celestial Space! They are in trouble!” 

“Why?!” Chanyeol asks with contempt. 

“The combatants had gathered at the front halls of the Institution! They think the demons they are fighting are the big deal, not knowing that the Evil Priest is already inside!” 

“Dammit, we have to go!” Chanyeol yells, grabbing Kyungsoo and Minseok’s hand. They all linked together then teleported to the second floor that faced off the Celestial Space. 

Up ahead, there is nothing but pitch black darkness, blocking off the glory of the stars. Below, in formal robes for the Feast of Houses, the Pride sisters along with Baekhyun, Jongin, Nayoung and Sehun fought a humanoid, dragon-like monster with other reptilian humanoids. The monster had a humanoid body, but it had three serpentine heads all bearing horns and a pair of huge dragon wings. It also had a tail, and its scales is a dirty red-brown color with a luster of gold. Baekhyun is the one who dealt with the dragon, glowing with pure white energy as he kept on attacking it with powerful strikes and bursts that scalded its scales. 

“That’s the Evil Priest, right?” Minseok says, pointing at the dragon. 

“He looks hideous,” Jongdae comments with a shake of his head. “Like period blood.” 

Chanyeol watches, assessing the whole situation and wondering what his next course of action should be when he sees all three heads of the Evil Priest lean back, as if it’s picking up strength. 

“Everyone, get back!” he yells, pushing everyone back with one hand while he casts a protective dome on Baekhyun with another, stopping the witch from getting fried by the Evil Priests’ blazing breath of Abysmal Fire that also reached far up to Chanyeol, who feels the fire lick at his skin but he doesn’t feel anything other than a ticklish sensation. 

“Holy shit,” Yixing swears, gazing wide eyes at the fire-breathing dragon. “How on earth will you be able to defeat the Evil Priest, Chanyeol?” 

“I am still yet to know the answer to that,” Chanyeol grumbles. “You guys, they need help. Let’s go?” 

“Fuck yes,” Minseok says as he pushes himself over the trailing then jumps. 

“I’ll probably die,” Jongdae wails as he follows after the first. 

“I’m honestly about to pee my pants,” Kyungsoo squeaks as he follows too. Yixing and Chanyeol does too, and when they land, they quickly engage into the fight. 

“My siblings!” Chanyeol greets the horde rushing towards his direction with mock jest, spreading his arms out in front of him. “It’s been so long, fam! How’s custody with dad?” 

The reptilians only screech at him in reply, probably something from the range of “Hey brother!” to “Go fucking die, asshat!” as they jumped to assault him, but because these aren’t mortals and Chanyeol has learned as much offensive spells as he had been able to for the past several weeks of training, he quickly mutters a spell and all the reptilians at a certain radius near him had their necks snapped. 

Chanyeol wacks his way through the ugly lizard things, alternating between burning them off or snapping their necks. There’s just so much of them and they just keep on coming from out of nowhere, the mortals better be prepared to have the shock of their lives when they see these ugly critters filling up their dumpsites. 

As sneakily as he could, Chanyeol creeps on at the Evil Priest from behind. Baekhyun’s busy distracting him, torturing him with painful bursts that scald him and cause his scales to fall off. It’s almost like seeing a god-like entity trying to attack the monster because Baekhyun can literally not be seen because of how much he’s glowing. 

Like a deadly meteor. 

Chanyeol waits, tongue between teeth as he assumes a crouching stance. He stares on, waiting for the right time to pounce. 

When he sees an opening, Chanyeol immediately launches himself up. He then finds home by hooking his legs over his shoulders then he starts choking all three of the dragon’s necks, all of those that started shrieking. His hands burst into flames as he tightens his hold on to all of it, heightening up the temperature. He can hear Baekhyun yelling something at him, but it doesn’t process because he’s distracted of what he’s doing. 

The intensity of Chanyeol’s flames burns deep into the dragon’s scales. They melt off, revealing the soft flesh underneath, which he burns off as well. The dragon couldn’t shriek anymore the moment his hands rip through flesh and blood, and it’s all a mess as he finally stumbles off with the dragon heads, throwing the severed body parts to the floor. 

Standing back up to his feet, Chanyeol watches as the now headless Evil Priest stumbles around in confusion, his wings flapping around with his arms stretched out for a poor attempt at balance. 

“Chanyeol.” 

Baekhyun appears next to him, panting heavily. Chanyeol stretches his arms out and pulls him into a hug, to which the smaller quickly responds to. 

“I’m so glad to see you, Kyoong,” Chanyeol says. 

“Me too,” Baekhyun says with a strained laugh. 

When they release each other, they look over to the Evil Priest, who has fallen on to all his fours on the ground. 

“Chanyeol, we won’t be able to kill him this way,” Baekhyun says. “He’ll just keep on coming back over and over again, challenging us until we’re tired.” 

“What do we do?” Chanyeol scornfully says. 

“We need to contain him in some sort of-” Baekhyun’s eyes drift over Chanyeol’s shoulder and they widen in alarm. 

It’s all so sudden. 

Baekhyun yells in warning as he seizes Chanyeol, turning their places around and pushing him to the ground. Chanyeol gazes up in horror as he sees the headless Evil Priest hover behind Baekhyun, who falls on top of him with a pained gasp when the dragon lifts his taloned claws up and slashes them across Baekhyun’s back, making a nauseating ripping sound as the sharp tips drag over his skin. 

“Baekhyun!” Chanyeol shrieks as he pushes himself up and carefully holds Baekhyun’s limp body in his arms, completely ignoring the dragon falling lifeless to the side. 

“Red...” Baekhyun chokes out. Chanyeol feels a sob threatening to splutter out of him as he sees his skin slowly turning a sickly shade of green, his lips a deathly shade of violet to black and his body beginning to quiver. 

“Baekhyun, what do I have to do?” Chanyeol whines, his voice croaky as he holds back tears. He’s frustrated, he’s really frustrated. He didn’t want to see Baekhyun like this. 

“He’s… he’s in me...” Baekhyun chokes as he brings his hands up to his chest. He closes his eyes as he curls up in pain. “Y-You have to go… Find the R-Red Witch… Blade...” 

Chanyeol shakes his head. He doesn’t understand. Who’s inside Baekhyun? Why does he need to go to the Red Witch? And what blade? 

“You d-don’t have… have enough time...” Baekhyun gasps for air. 

“Baekhyun…” Chanyeol whimpers, close to tears. 

“G-Go!” Baekhyun screams at him, pushing Chanyeol away as he curls up on the ground. “He’ll come back, I won’t be able to hold him off.” 

“I can’t leave you here!” Chanyeol shrieks, hands shooting up to his hair. “Why do you want me to leave you alone? Come with me!” 

Baekhyun looks up at Chanyeol, eyes teary as he brings a hand up to cover his mouth. He starts gagging, body jolting forward as he weakly plops on to the floor. 

And then, he stills. 

Chanyeol is frozen on the spot where he stands, blood running cold as he watches Baekhyun’s cold body laying in the middle of all the carnage. The scratches on his back glowed a toxic color of green, glowing in such a lethal way that it makes Chanyeol’s heart crack in pain at the realization that Baekhyun might have been poisoned by that damned Evil Priest. 

But suddenly, Baekhyun stirs. 

“Chanyeol...” 

His voice has strangely doubled. When he looks up, Chanyeol sees his eyes glow a haunting red color. There is a deranged smile spread out across his face as he pushes himself back up to his feet. 

“Chanyeol… you love me, don’t you?” Baekhyun says with a crazed laugh. “Come here, embrace me.” 

This isn’t Baekhyun. 

“Bastard!” Chanyeol screams at him angrily. “I will kill you!” 

“You can’t do that,” Baekhyun pouts before laughing again. “Chanyeol, love me!” 

At an unbelievably pace, Baekhyun suddenly breaks out into a run towards his direction. Chanyeol backs up to run away, but Baekhyun is too fast. He crashes into him and they roll over the floor, with Chanyeol struggling to get away while his possessed lover laughed like a maniac as he tries to pin him down. 

“You really have to ruin everything for me, don’t you?!” Chanyeol screams up at Baekhyun. “You killed mom, you want to kill me and now you’re possessing the one I love just to kill me?” 

“What are you talking about, what possession?” Baekhyun plays dumb, and it would have been cute if he’s not being possessed by Chanyeol’s murderous undead biological father and not currently choking him “It’s me, Baekhyun! I’m just asking for some love, is that bad?” 

“Ah fuck,” Chanyeol groans. Mustering all of his strength, Chanyeol throws Baekhyun off of him then he stands up, quickly muttering a spell. 

Just before the possessed Baekhyun could launch himself on him with his new set of fangs and taloned hands, Chanyeol disappears. 

Panting heavily with tears of fury streaming down his face, Chanyeol teleports out of the school, running through the dark woods towards the Dead Garden as Baekhyun had told him. 

Fucking Sungyeol and all of his bullshit - he’s never going to get away with this. 

“CHANYEOL! MY LOVE, WHERE ARE YOU?” 

Baekhyun’s voice echoes into the distance behind him, and Chanyeol cusses under his breath as he mumbles a hiding spell over his being as he runs faster. 

When he reaches the Dead Garden, Chanyeol runs along to the side and hides among the bushes. On his fours, he slowly crawls through, alert as he searched around for the Red Witch. He mentally slaps himself because he couldn’t remember which exact spot he and Baekhyun had been when they first encountered her. 

“Red Witch!” Chanyeol yells out. “I need to speak to you!” 

At first, there’s nothing. The night is still, except for Baekhyun’s voice obnoxiously calling out for him and begging for his love, approaching closer and closer. Chanyeol keeps on crawling, eyes drifting around in search for any sign of the phantom. 

A little while later, Chanyeol hears a singing. 

It is very faint, barely audible. It is a song that strangely stimulates some kind of distant childhood feeling within him. 

Following the voice, Chanyeol comes across a familiar lady clad in white, her robes tainted with bright red blood, sitting under the rose shrubs. 

“Red Witch!” Chanyeol calls out, hastily crawling towards her. 

He’s prepared to see that horrible grotesque face again, but it comes as a surprise when the lady looks over her shoulder and rather than what he is expecting, Chanyeol sees a pale but lovely face instead. 

“Hello, child,” the Red Witch greets him with a surprisingly friendly smile. “Why are you looking for me? I’ve never been directly consulted by a young witch before.” 

Chanyeol crawls over and takes a sit next to her. Baekhyun’s voice echoes in the distance, still searching for him, so he still has a bit of time to spare. 

“Oh this is special,” the Red Witch laughs, her voice tinkly as she even claps her hands together. “Not once have I seen a witch seem unafraid of me.” 

“You don’t look grotesque today after all,” Chanyeol says, feeling the tension in his body ease up with how strangely precious this phantom is being. 

“Oh, really?” the Red Witch gasps as she cups her own face. “No wonder!” 

Chanyeol manages to smile at how airy and wholesome she is despite of the danger that he is in. 

“I came because I need your help,” Chanyeol quickly gets down to business. 

“Oh…” she nods her head in understanding. “What kind of help?” 

“The Institution is under attack,” Chanyeol begins. “The Evil Priest wants to kill me so Apollyon could rise. I was told that in order to stop this, I need to kill the Evil Priest with a blade. They say it is with you.” 

“A blade…” the Red Witch mumbles. “M-May I know who the Evil Priest?” 

“He’s Park Sungyeol, my father. He rose from the dead.” 

The Red Witch falls silent. Chanyeol stares at her, expectant, curious of what she will do next. He even feels apprehensive, half expecting her to go berserk and transform back to that scary phantom that she had been the last time. 

It takes him by surprise once again when she starts crying. 

With blood. 

“Red Witch!” Chanyeol exclaims, hands extinctive reaching out but not entirely sure what he should do. “Are you okay?” 

The Red Witch brings her hands up a few inches to her face, quivering as sobs rack through her body. 

“I-I’ve been turned into this because he had killed me in cold blood,” she cries. 

Chanyeol just stares at her in awe as the Red Witch brings her hands up to her heart. He had failed to notice a hilt sticking out of the exact spot where her heart resided. She held the hilt, and with a pained whimper, she slowly pulls it out of her with the sound of metal sliding against flesh. 

“Y-You are…” 

The Red Witch turns to him, handing him a bronze blade with one hand while she reached out to touch his cheek with her other hand. 

It’s warm. 

“Son, avenge me and save the world,” the Red Witch says. 

The bushes rustle and suddenly, Baekhyun jumps out. 

“Aha!” he cackles as he raises his hands up that crackled with energy. “I have found you! Now come get my love!” 

The Red Witch disappears as Baekhyun throws a ball of energy towards Chanyeol, who could barely avoid it as it crashes into a tree and immediately damages the trunk. He quickly slides the knife into his boot and runs away. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck. 

Chanyeol starts crying again, frustrated at how killing his father will mean killing Baekhyun too because he is the current vessel that makes him mortal and vulnerable enough. He has lost Baekhyun once, now he’ll have to go through all the trouble again. What a cruel cycle that will only come to a bitter end. 

It frustrates him so much that Chanyeol would have driven the blade into his own throat if it just didn’t mean that Apollyon will succeed. 

Chanyeol stops running when he finds himself facing a brick wall. 

“Chanyeol!” Baekhyun calls out to him, arms casually spread out as he walks towards him. “Don’t run away now, give me your love.” 

Chanyeol turns around to face him, feeling his heart ache even more than it already is as his eyes water with tears again. 

“Okay,” he breathes heavily. He spreads his arms out and gives Baekhyun a warm smile. 

“Come get it, Baekhyun.” 

Baekhyun cackles, and Chanyeol sobs at how he has to see him like this - demented and corrupted by something as disgusting as the Evil Priest. 

“I love you!” Baekhyun shrieks as he jumps into his arms. 

With one swift movement of Chanyeol’s hand, the blade shoots out of his boot and into his hands. Before Baekhyun could feast on him, Chanyeol stabs him from the back, fast and quick. 

An unearthly wail leaps out of Baekhyun’s mouth as he falls into Chanyeol’s arms, who keeps on crying in despair as he holds him. Baekhyun shakes as red smoke twirls out of his mouth and up into the night sky. An earthquake shakes the whole area just like the first time, and if anything, it was stronger. When the world stills and the red smoke dissipates into the atmosphere, the dark veil lifts and reveals the stars twinkling once again. 

Finally, the Evil Priest has been defeated. 

“Baekhyun, I’m sorry!” Chanyeol cries out, falling to his knees as he hugs Baekhyun tightly. “It’s all my fault! Fuck, this is all my fault… I can’t forgive myself for this...” 

Baekhyun starts coughing. He opens his eyes weakly and smiles up at Chanyeol, piercing the remains of his heart. How could his eyes sparkle like that and even have it in him to smile at him happily when he’s just at Death’s fingertips? 

“D-Don’t say that...” he rasps. “I-I’m happy I g-got to save everyone… I’m glad I-I helped you i-in defeating him… I’m so happy, Chanyeol...” 

“You’ve done too much for everyone,” Chanyeol sobs. “You don’t deserve this… I-I wanted to defeat him m-mostly because I want a world without evil, one that you can be in safely. I don’t want you risking your life anymore… I wanted to be t-the hero, just to make it up to you for saving me from everything… But you even had to suffer being defiled by Sungyeol’s evil and now you’re here... You’re dying… All because I couldn’t do anything better...” 

“E-Everything I’ve… I’ve d-done.. It’s for the good o-of all...” Baekhyun says, reaching out to cup his cheeks. “I won’t die in vain. Everything is not for nothing. Please d-don’t blame yourself...” 

Baekhyun hauls himself up and kisses Chanyeol. It’s heated and needy, and it breaks Chanyeol even more knowing that he’ll never feel these rose-like lips again. 

“I love you,” Baekhyun whispers against his lips. When Sungyeol possessed him, he had not only corrupted his body but he had also tainted his words. 

Hearing those words right now from the real Baekhyun, Chanyeol just wants to cry even more at how much they mean to him. Even if he says he’s happy dying like this, his voice is still filled with hurt and pain. 

“I just wish I had more time to show you how much I do.” 

Chanyeol purses his lips and nods, kissing his forehead before leaning his own against his. 

“I love you, too. ” 

  
  
  
  
  
  


All the witch combatants that survived through the night gathered in the Celestial Space, checking on everyone who had injuries that needed tending. Mother Kahi is there, and even if Yixing and the rest of the younger witches had disobeyed her rules, their well-being is more important since they fought for the coven. 

“Where is Baekhyun and Chanyeol?” Sehun asks, having a hard time talking because of his broken jaw. 

“I-I’m not sure,” Zhou whispers, eyes red from crying while she leaned on Nayoung for comfort because her sisters had slid into a coma after both of them hit their heads against the wall. 

Everyone is buzzing around, busy and preoccupied by taking care of each other. But when the doors suddenly swing open and Chanyeol walks into the hall with a lifeless Baekhyun in his arms, everyone falls silent. 

“What happened to him?!” Mother Kahi shouts in concern that Chanyeol didn’t know she’s capable of exhibiting, rushing towards him with haste. When Chanyeol didn’t speak, she shouts once again but with more force. 

“Child, speak! What happened to Baekhyun?!” 

“Sungyeol possessed him!” Chanyeol yells, bursting into tears again, his voice croaky from the constriction of his throat. His soul is breaking, his heart is in tatters. How is he even able to stand up like this when he had lost the one person who matters the most to him? 

“He told me I had to stab him while that damned bastard is still inside him, and here he is! He’s dead! And it’s all because of me!” 

It’s too much, his emotions are too much. Chanyeol spirals into a breakdown, and people had to take Baekhyun away from him while Sehun and his friends rushed towards him to calm him down. 

“B-Brother Chanyeol… Please…” Yixing says, comforting him while Minseok and Jongdae fanned him since Chanyeol is coming down with a slight asthma attack as well, sobbing and hiccuping as he gulped for air. 

“Chanyeol… calm down…” Sehun says as he holds his eyes, and even he is close to tears watching his cousin degrading into an emotional wreck. 

“I lost him…” Chanyeol wails as he feels his body lose strength. “I-I lost Baekhyun and it’s all because I’m a worthless piece of shit who couldn’t be good enough to protect him…” 

“Don’t say that,” Nayoung says, shushing him as she rubs circles around his back. “You’re not worthless-” 

“But I am!” Chanyeol shouts, and this time it seems like he’s about to throw a tantrum. “If I had been better, or if I had never been this way, he would still be alive! I’m the one who killed him! He’s dead because of me! He’s-” 

Jongin comes in front of him and casts a spell on him that immediately made him fall asleep. 

_“Rest for today, Brother Chanyeol.”_

  
  
  
  
  


The darkness had only been bearable because Chanyeol had Baekhyun to light his way. 

And now, even with the Evil Priest successfully defeated, Chanyeol finds himself wandering alone in the darkness again. 

He lost his adoptive mom and dad, he lost the happiness that came with a family, he lost the chance to be just a normal teenager because of his real father, and now he has lost Baekhyun. 

How many times does he need to lose something in this lifetime? 

Maybe this sadness is warranted. Maybe Chanyeol deserves to drown in so much pain and misery for not being good enough for Baekhyun. Maybe this agony, this soul-wrenching, life-incapacitating anguish is something that he deserves for killing the person he loves. How will he even tell Baekhyun’s mother and his sisters that he died because of him? 

It’s tearing him apart more than anything else had ever done. 

_“Don’t be too hard on yourself.”_

In the darkness up ahead are two white figures. Chanyeol squints his eyes, but he couldn’t make out any of their faces. 

“Who are you?” he calls out, a bit fearsome and daunted of the entities. 

“Baekhyun knew what he was doing, darling. You did not kill him, per se. He wanted you to do what was right. He simply died for the good of all,” says a woman’s voice. It sounds very familiar, but Chanyeol can’t find it in him to pinpoint where exactly he had heard it. 

His mind is tired, after all. 

“Baekhyun would never want to see you suffering like this because of him, Park Chanyeol,” comes a man’s voice that isn’t familiar to him. “He didn’t die just for you to act like a pathetic little wimp.” 

“Brother Baekho! Don’t insult my son. He’s heartbroken!” 

“And how about _my_ son, Sister Youngmi? He’s dead for a moment and all your precious Chanyeol did is just mope around saying it’s his fault. How self-centered. Baekhyun died on his own accord, may I remind you.” 

Chanyeol didn’t exactly understand anything, the claiming of “sons” not really processing to him yet. 

“Chanyeol, just remember that you have to be strong,” the woman’s voice says. “It is alright to be vulnerable, but don’t let yourself submerge in more to thoughts that will do nothing but ruin you even more than you already are. During times like this when you’re at your weakest point, your enemy is yourself. Don’t let yourself trample over you.” 

Chanyeol just nods, and before he could even answer, the figures start to fade away. 

_“Take care of Baekhyun, or I will pull a Sungyeol and rise from the dead to kill you myself if you ever hurt him.”_

  
  
  
  
  


“BROTHER CHANYEOL! BROTHER CHANYEOL! BROTHER CHANYEOL!” 

It is barely dawn, and every witch has gone to sleep after a very tiring day that has basically drained out not only the energy but the emotional sap out of their bodies. 

So it comes as a real disturbance when the Council President suddenly comes crashing through the halls, rushing to get to the Ohs and Chanyeol’s room. 

“BROTHER CHANYEOL! BROTHER SEHUN! SISTER NAYOUNG! PLEASE WAKE UP! EMERGENCY!” 

The noises easily stirred Chanyeol from his sleep. He’s a total wreck, still feeling extremely exhausted with eyebags framing the underneath areas of his eyes. Despite the grogginess dominating his senses, Chanyeol rouses himself up from bed and with the sheets wrapped around him for comfort, he walks over to the door to see what the commotion is all about. 

“Yixing?” Chanyeol rasps, squinting as he stares questioningly at the other witch upon seeing him standing there with a spooked expression spread across his face. 

“Hey, what’s going?” Nayoung calls out. The sound of the divider dragging across the floor as the female twin makes her way to the door resonates through the room, rousing her brother awake as well. 

“My eyeballs feel like jumping out of my sockets,” Sehun groans as he makes his way to the door, too. 

“You guys, you have to come with me!” Yixing exclaims as he turns around. “Especially you, Chanyeol!” 

Why does he feel nervous? 

“Mind telling us what exactly happened? I’m starting to think there’s something wrong,” Nayoung says as they followed Yixing down the hall. 

“I-I’ve been helping around ever since this morning, so I was too tired to make my way to the dorms,” Yixing starts as they make a turn. “I just went into the nearest room without even really thinking about what room it was and just dozed off. I failed to notice it was the morgue.” 

No one even reacts in disgust, knowing it’s currently filled with fallen witches. 

“A-And I just heard someone calling my name,” Yixing he continues. “When I opened my eyes… I saw him sitting there.” 

By the time he ends, they reach the morgue. 

Chanyeol’s speechless upon seeing the spectacle. 

“Baekhyun?!” Nayoung exclaims in disbelief. “Y-You’re-” 

The twins rush towards the blond, eager to see if what they are seeing with their eyes is the real thing. 

_Baekhyun’s alive,_ Chanyeol thinks as his jaw drops ajar, his brain unable to comprehend the magnitude of the circumstances. 

He’s in between Jongin and Kyungsoo, who are busy checking on his bodily vitals. Meanwhile, Zhou is interrogating him. Baekhyun looks a bit pale, his complexion papery and void of color, but his smile clearly shows how he’s fine. 

Their eyes then meet. 

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun calls out, eyes curling into crescents. “You’re not gonna come over here and tell your boyfriend he did a good job resurrecting from the dead?” 

Chanyeol’s bottom lip quivers as he’s overwhelmed by a violent rage of emotions. 

“Y-You only accepted me as your boyfriend n-now that you’ve got a taste of death?” Chanyeol sobs as he reaches out to Baekhyun, who coos as he receives the taller witch into his arms while the others laughed. 

Yixing signals at the other witches, and they all nod as they made their way out of the room. 

Chanyeol closes his eyes and lets himself bask in the glory of Baekhyun’s existence. He enjoys his warmth, squeezing him even more as he tightens his hold around him. There’s an additional coziness to their hug because of the sheets that he had wrapped around him. 

“I was terrified,” Baekhyun whispers as he cards his fingers through Chanyeol’s hair. “Everything had been dark, and I was supposed to follow the light of the stars up ahead but they seemed so unreachable. B-But _they_ suddenly appeared.” 

“Who?” Chanyeol asks as he leans away, taking Baekhyun's hands in his. 

“Your mom and my dad,” Baekhyun smiles. “They told me you were a mess, so I can’t leave you yet.” 

Chanyeol groans, his own dream coming back to him and he finally understands it. “I dreamed of them too. Your dad insulted me and threatened me.” 

“That means he likes you,” Baekhyun teases, brushing his nose against his affectionately. 

Chanyeol hums as he tilts his face up. Baekhyun quickly takes the hint and leans down, hands caressing Chanyeol’s neck as he goes for a soft kiss on his lips. 

“I don’t want to lose you anymore,” Chanyeol whispers in between kisses. 

“We’ve got lots of time now that I’ve cheated on death,” Baekhyun murmurs lowly, kissing him full. “We’ll have our liberty now. We can do whatever we like. We can indulge in each other without ever worrying much about things.” 

“Like dying?” Chanyeol says. 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods. “So demonic appearances has earned top one again.” 

They both chuckle in amusement. 

“I love you,” Chanyeol sighs. “I know that word will wear out if I always say it, but I hope it conveys my feelings enough to let you know that they aren’t just words.” 

“Loud and clear, baby,” Baekhyun smiles in satisfaction. 

“I can hear your heart loud and clear.” 

END 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Thank you for reading this fic~ If you want to know a bit more about this fic, check this post out! https://hyunchanee.wordpress.com/2019/12/30/total-fucking-darkness-a-background-file/


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